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£y JAMES A GREER 

CHARLOTTE, N. C. 



1915 



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^s 



Greeks Spinning Rules 

A Practical Book for 
Practical People 



A book of useful information written for those who 
wish to know more about Cotton Spinning 

By >o 

JAMES A. GREER 

Editor Textile Manufacturer 



Author 
Greer's Practical Carder 



JAMES A. GREER 

Author and Publisher 
Charlotte, N. C. 



^ 



ff>v 

"PREFACE Of^ 

To write a book on cotton spinning, that would be loth 
interesting and instructive, to those wishing to learn more 
about this important subject, has been the desire of the Author 
in preparing the little volume hat you now hold in your hand. 
The plan of dividing the matter into letters was adopted, in 
order that it would appear, as the sincere advice of the A uihor, 
and at the same time, give an excuse for the relating of per- 
sonal experiences. It has been the object of the Author to 
refrain from any <l high-brow stuff," and to get right down to 
the plain everyday vernacular of the common mill man. The 
matter contained herein was published, serially, in the Textile 
Manufacturer, of Charlotte, N. C, during 1914 

The A uthor has reason to feel proud of the record, his 
previous publication,— Greers Practical Carder— has attained 
and should the present volume become so well \ncwn, to the 
four corners of the textile world, he will feel amply repaid 
for the time, trouble and expense, incident to the publishing of 
such a hoofy. 



Your particular attention is directed to the advertisements 
appearing in this book- These advertisers are among the 
leaders in their respective lines, and it is by their co operation 
that a wide distribution of this book nas been made possible. 
That the present volume will be of interest and value, to all 
into whose hands it may come, is the sincere wish of— 

'Uhe A uthor ' 



y 



A\ 



LETTER NO. 1. 

MY Dear Son: You are doubtless aware of the fact 
that unless you settle down to business and con- 
centrate your mind and effort on the one thing 
you wish to accomplish, you will never be worth a pinch 
of snuff. No one has ever made a success of anything, so 
long as they have jumped about, like a frog, going no- 
where in particular, but just hopping around from one 
place to another. The thing to do my boy, is to concen- 
trate upon one thing. Act the part, of the postage stamp, 
stick to one thing until you get there. Now you tell me 
you are going to learn the cotton mill business, good! I 
am so glad you have decided to take up this work. As 
you know I have spent the better part of my life in the 
mill and have acquired some reputation as a mill man, 
and while I can be of some help to you, by way of telling 
you, my experience and pointing out to you the many dif- 
ficulties to be overcome, and the best way to overcome 
them, you must realize to begin with that the road of a 
successful mill man is not strewn with roses. There is a 
great deal of satisfaction in being the possessor of a fund 
of knowledge in any line of industry, and to acquire this 
knowledge one must be willing to undergo a great deal of 
inconvenience, hard work and suffering. Nothing my boy 
can be accomplished without hard work. Take any ac- 
complishment in life, no matter what it may be, and back 
of it you will find hard work. You can't get something for 
nothing, put that down in your memory to begin with. 
You must work and work hard, but with the advice and 
help that 1 can give you, you should be able to get on 
much faster than I did, for you have many advantages 
that I did not have. Though by hard work and much in- 
convenience and self-aenial I have been able to get along 
fairly well, and have enjoyed some of the sunshine of life 



12 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

with a few of its roses, but son, even the roses have 
thorns and unless they are handled with caution and 
judgment they become painful possessions, in spite of all 
their beauty and fragrance. These words of mine are 
written hurriedly; as you know I am kept very busy, and 
have not the time to be as concise as I would like to be, 
but if you will follow my lettors closely and bear in mind 
that what I tell you is what I have learned in that greatest 
of all schools — experience — you will be profited by them. 
Son, I am delighted to hear that you are going to start in 
the spinning room and believe me, you have got some fun 
coming to you as you climb the hill of learning to be a 
boss spinner. There is more action in a spinning room 
than there is in a good dog fight, and more fun than there • 
is in a barrel of monkeys. 

When I began to learn the mi.r, business it was quite 
different to what it is now, and there was none of the 
pleasantries that you find in mill life nearly everywhere 
you go to-day. There has been a great improvement in 
machinery in general, as well as in the construction of the 
buildings of the mills. To-day the buildings are all well 
lighted and almost perfectly ventilated, and the floors are 
of hard, smooth maple, and too, the floors are regularly 
scrubbed and are kept sweet and clean. In the scrubbing 
of the floors they use a disinfecting compound which kills 
all germs and is a protection to , the health of the opera- 
tives. 

When I first began work in the mills they did not 
have the well lighted and ventilated buildings that they 
have now, and the floor, oh, my! Scour them! If any one 
had suggested such a thing they would probably have 
been taken for crazy and hurried off to an asylum. The 
floors were of common yellow pine and soon became 
soaked with oil, tobacco and snuff spit, and were as slick 
as glass. 

I remember how, during the winter, when I wore 
shoes, we boys used to skate on the floor and we became 
so expert in skating that I could easily skate the whole 
length of a spinning frame. Also I carry a perpetual re- 
membrance of these skating days, in the shape of several 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 13 

scars on my head caused by falling against a piece of ma- 
chinery or colliding with some other boy. 

Wait a minute son, until I fill up my Jimmy Pipe, I 
can write so much better of these good old times, when 
I am enveloped with a cool fragrant smoke. You remem- 
ber how we used to rehearse some of Sherlock Holmes 
great tales? Well, it always, appeared to me that I could 
get closer to Holmes and his narrative if I followed his 
example and smoked a great deal. 

Now the old pipe is going beautifully. Son! I hope 
that you will take my advice and avoid the narrows 
which I shall try to point out to you while you are learn- 
ing to be a boss spinner.v_You have many advantages that 
never came to me. Andrew Carnegie says that "poverty 
is a blessing" and whether we agree with him or not, it 
does seem that most of the great successes of life come to 
those who have been reared in pcverty. In this respect 
your father enjoyed all the blessings of poverty (?) and has 
not yet been able to get completely out of that environ- 
ment, but you, my son are living in a time when all cotton 
mill people are surrounded with advantages far removed 
from what they have ever been before. When I was a boy 
of your age, — and by the way I see from the family Bible 
that you have just passed your eighteenth birth day — I 
had already spent about ten years in the mill and was a 
cracker-jack spinner, doffer, bander and section hand or 
fixer. My father, who of course is your grandfather, 
gave me all the advantages that 1 would accept, but the 
trouble with me was that I would not or did not appreciate 
the good advice that he gave me. Probably I would have 
been better off if I had listened more to my father's ad- 
vice, and I mention this so that you may take ' warning if 
you will, and listen to what I am telling you. I sowed my 
wild oats and so, proverbially, have had to reap what I 
sowed . 

The sins of the father are said to descend to the third 
and fourth generation. My son, listen, you are of the third 
generation of the cotton mill descendants, being the 
grandson of one of the pioneer cotton mill men of this 
country. But whether or not you inherit the good or bad 



14 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

qualities of your ancestors you have certainly shown 
some of their traits by making up your mind to go into 
the mill business and learn it thoroughly. That word 
thoroughly my boy is a good word, place it upon your 
forehead, write it upon the walls of your room, where you 
can see it constantly, burn it into your brain, as one of the 
greatest passports to success ithat anyone ever had. 

Abraham Lincoln, I think it was,, used to say, that 
whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. Just 
another way of saying whatever you do, do it thoroughly. 
If you are tying on bands, tie them on right, take pains to 
learn the right method and any good boss spinner can 
show you the right way to tie on a band, then when you 
know how to do it, do it right. It pays to do a thing right. 
When you tie a band on right it will stay on, and do good 
work longer than two bands will if tied on carelessly. 
But here, I have taken up all the space allotted to this 
letter so I will leave you for the present. I will write you 
again next week and hope to have the time to write you 
a letter regularly each week. Read this over several 
times and carefully note those things that may be of ser- 
vice to you in the future. 

Until next week, my boy, I bid you adieu. 

Sincerely, 

DAD. 



LETTER NO. 2. 

MY Dear Son: We were talking about tying on 
bands in my last letter, and I wish to impress 
upon you the importance of bands and banding. This is 
one of the most important things about a spinning frame, 
and you cannot afford to be careless about your spinning 
bands. 

They should be made of hard twisted roving and 
should be uniform in size. 

About one-eighth of an inch in diameter will be found 
a very good size. 

They should be tied on uniformly tight, but not too 
tight, as they will consume a great deal of unnecessary 
power if tied on too tight. 

You will find that, bands made from roving will not 
stretch, as much, as will bands made from yarn, and so by 
using the roving band you will not be troubled so much 
with slack twisted yarn caused from loose bands, but even 
With roving bands you should have your bander or some 
reliable person to examine all your bands, at regular in- 
tervals, and to cut off all that are found to be slack. 

By doing this you will prevent the making of a great 
deal of soft twisted yarn, which is a dead loss to the com- 
pany. Sometimes you will find bands that will accumu- 
late lint until they become much larger than their regular 
size, these should be cut off also, as a large band will not 
put in the same amount of twist a<* a small band. The 
reason for this is obvious. The small band will go deeper 
into the groove of the spindle whirl, and will drive the 
spindle faster than the large band which stands up on the 
larger circumference of the whirl. When you have large 
and small bands mixed together, it will result in the yarn 
being unevenly twisted, the same as if you had different 
sizes of whirls. 



16 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

I have seen a great deal of trouble come from bad 
bands, and I learned a long time ago to look closely after 
my banding. We frequently hear people say that if you 
will look after the little things, the big things will take 
care of themselves. This is very true, my boy, and the 
reason for this is simple. 

A band is a small thing, the shafting and hangers 
overhead are much larger things, but they all require at- 
tention, however, your bands may be doing a great deal of 
bad work and not be very noticeable. They may run 
along very smoothly and not attract any particular atten- 
tion but still be making a great deal of bad yarn or caus- 
ing the spinner a good deal of unnecessary work. It is 
different with the shafting, as the big thing, when a hang- 
er is neglected, it runs dry, gets hot and begins to smoke, 
thus taking care of itself or rather showing up its neg- 
lect. 

One great trouble that frequently results from bad 
banding is the fact that sometimes you will find that just 
a few bad bands will keep a spinner "stuck-up" as they 
say in the mill. If there are, even a dozen, bad bands 
scattered about on eight or ten sides it will be sufficient 
to keep the spinner on those sides busy, and when a spin- 
ner is kept busy all the time putting up ends there is no 
opportunity for cleaning the rolls, clearers, rails, etc., and 
as a result of this there will be a general dissatisfaction 
on the part of the help, besides a lot of bad work and 
waste. 

One of the most important things for you to fix in 
your mind, at the very beginning, is the fact, that an end 
never breaks without a cause, and that wherever an end 
breaks and is put up there is a bad place in the yarn. 
The mended place may be as strong as any other part of 
the yarn but it will not be as smooth or even. So having 
learned that an end never breaks without a cause, and 
that each break means waste and bad yarn, we reach the 
obvious conclusion that when we learn the various causes 
of breakage, and remove them we are certain to get 
good yarn with a minimum of waste. 

There are many causes for the ends coming down on 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 17 



a spinning frame, and one of the greatest of these is 
to be found in the bands. Even when the bands are 
properly made, thsy may be tied on too tight or too slack 
or the knot may be of such a nature as to make the spin- 
dle run with a jerk. The ideal condition, to be sought af- 
ter is a band that will not stretch after it is put on, and to 
Tiave it put on at the right tension, and tied so as to run 
with a steady pull the same as if it was endless. 

When tying on bands, too many should not be tied on 
one side of the frame at the same time, as this is likely 
to pull the cylinder out of line. It is best, in fact it is 
Teally necessary, when tying on bands, where they are all 
off, or even a good many off, to use two banders, one on 
each side of the frame, each tying on an equal number. 

These things, my boy, may appear simple, and they 
^re to many, but you should fix these elementary points 
firmly in your mind. I have seen many boss spinners, 
neglect this very thing and I know of some who Lave fell 
down on their jobs simply on account of not knowing or 
neglecting the importance of banding. 

A simple way to determine the variation of the twist 
in yarn caused by different size bands, or to find the true 
ratio of the spindle to the whirl, would be as follows: 
Make a circular card just a little larger than the spinning 
ring, and have a hole in centre of card so that it can be 
placed on top of the ring with the spindle running 
through the centre. Make a circle on this card about as 
large as the ring and divide this circle into one hundred 
equal parts Then place upon the .spindle a hand or point- 
er similar to the hand of a clock, and in such po- 
sition that it will move around the circle of the card. 
Then by turning the cylinder exactly one , revolution you 
can count the revolutions of the spindle to one of the cyl- 
inder, and the pointer will show the hundredth part of a 
revolution of the spindle. 

By trying this simple device on various spindles, with 
different sized bands, much valuable information may be 
iad. 

Some years ago I went into a spinning room where 
they were trying to start up a lot of new spinning, and as 



18 GREER'S SPINNING, RULES. 

is usually the case everybody was in a great hurry. 

The company, anxious to get started, had taken sev- 
eral large orders for hosiery yarn, to be delivered at a 
certain time, and that time was about to arrive with no 
yarn in sight. 

There had been various an\l sundry delays such as is 
always the case in building, (equipping, and starting a 
new mill. 

The superintendent h£ing a close personal friend of 
mine, asked me to look over the spinning and tell him 
why it would not run. 

He also intimated that he was about to quit the job,, 
but he did not want to fall down and was willing to take 
advice, and would try anything to make that blamed old 
spinning go. He said many things about his superiors and 
inferiors that will not bear printing, but that everybody 
and everything was in a hellofafix there was no denying. 

The boss spinner was running around like a chicken 
with its head cut off, not knowing or caring which way he 
went, just so he kept busy. 

Son, after your father too a look over the room, he 
could not but feel proud of the fact that he had started in 
the mill business at the spinning room and had learned 
to make bands and also to tie them on. 

For awhile I let a selfish motive creep into my mind, 
and I felt that it could do me no possible good to advise 
these people where their trouble was. 

I spent some time looking into the various things 
that will cause an end to come down on a spinning frame, 
and I had in mind just what I have told you, that an end 
never breaks without a cause. To locate the cause is 
generally, but not always the most important thing to do. 
Sometimes the cause is easier to locate than to remove. 

In the hustle and bustle of starting this new mill 
they had been in too much of a hurry to look carefully af- 
ter the little things, these had been neglected and the 
greatest trouble with the job I have just mentioned was 
found to be in the banding. They had sent around to va- 
rious mills in the vicinity and had purchased a great va- 
riety of bands, also they had a little boy making bands on 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 19 

an old time band machine just like your dad ran many 
years ago. 

The bands which were secured from the various 
mills were of all sizes, lengths and colors, and were made 
from different kinds of material. They formed a general 
lot that might be classed as good, bad and indifferent but 
mostly bad and unfit for tt^e. 

Some of them, I noticed particularly were twister 
bands, larger than a good big lead pencil, and never in- 
tended to be used on spinning frames. Then there were 
others made from a general mixture of roving, slasher 
waste, and soft filling, and coming from a mill that made 
colored goods they were of more different colors than 
Joseph's famous coat ever dared to be. Then the boy that 
was making bands on the old machine, in an isolated part 
of the building, he knew no more than a pig, what consti- 
tuted a good band, and what's more he did not care a tink- 
ers dam, whether they were good, bad or indifferent. Some 
were as large as your finger others about the size of 
"wrapping twine. 

The whole trouble was simply this; the boss spinner 
and the superintendent had been too busy looking after 
the big things, and the little things were just about to 
put them both out of a job. They both knew these things 
but had simply lost sight of them in the rush of getting 
started up. 

When I explained the trouble and showed them the 
bands and some other things, the superintendent tele- 
phoned a large mill in a neighboring town and arranged 
to get a large shipment of roving-made bands, of the 
proper size. When they arrived, by express, the next day, 
a dozen or more boys and men were put to work cutting 
•off the old bands and tying on the new ones. 

I called at the mill a week or so later at the request 
-of the superintendent,, who by the way met me at the depot 
with his new automobile a boad smile and a hearty wel- 
come to visit his mill and his home, where upon his insist- 
ence I spent several days with his attractive family, in 
one of the most beautifully located and handsomely fur- 
nished homes I have ever had the pleasure of entering. 



20 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

At the mill there had come the calm that follows the 
storm, the sunshine that follows the rain. The trouble 
had passed over, as a dark cloud, that had threatened to 
burst upon these men charged with making this spinning 
run. 

Everybody at the mill gtosut/ed me with cordiaity and 
I feared that the superintendent and the boss spinner 
would become jealous of me on account of the attention 
that was shown me, but I do not believe that I have two 
better friends to-day than these two men, though I doubt 
if the officials higher up were ever told of the matter, and 
f am sure I never mentiond it to them, though I had am- 
ple opportunity to do so. And it all came about from a 
little close observance of bands and banding on my part 
and a neglect of these things, on their part. 

My son, I want to impress one thing upon your mind 
in this connection, don't ever try to run over the head of 
your boss, I mean by that to never go to an official higher 
up, than the one you are working for. Stick to the man 
you work for and let his interest be yours. I have always 
found this to be a good policy and have stuck to it,, 
though there have been many times when I feel that I was 
doing things for men that would not appreciate them, and 
that I might gain the good will or possibly a better job by 
going to some one higher up. I have never done this and 
I advise you to not do it. Next week I will take up with 
you some troubles I have had with oiling and in the 
meantime, let me hear from you. I am always glad to 
hear how you are getting along with your work. 

Sincerely ycurs, 

DAD. 



L 



LETT \ '% NO. 3. 

MY Dear Son: — I am glad to hear you are getting 
along so nicely, and that you are now head-doffer. 
If you will keep right after your work and study 
the lessons I am sending you, there is no reason why you 
should not be promoted soon. 

In making you head-doffer, the boss is giving you an 
opportunity to show what you can do, and I want to im 
press upon you the necessity of keeping your head level. 
Don't get the big head, now, over your first promotion, 
you are too well raised for that, just go right along and 
try to get the other boys to do their work right, but don't 
try to show your authority, too much. There is a great 
deal of tact required in handling help, and this is espe- 
cially true of the spinning room. 

You must learn to be firm, but, be kind to every one. 
You can do a great deal more with people when they re- 
spect you than you can if they feel spiteful or revengeful 
towards you. You must learn to be a leader, not a 
driver. 

When I was a young fellow like you and learning the 
iriill business, the boss was a terror, why we were as afraid 
of the boss as an innocent child is of the devil. The boss 
used to take kids down and whip them just like they be- 
longed to them. I have seen the boss take a boy" your 
size, put his head between his knees, and using a top 
clearer for a paddle, he would proceed to beat the boys', 
circumstances. I have during my experience as an over- 
seer of spinning been so provoked at times, that I could 
hardly keep from slapping the wax out of some little in- 
sclent brat, and a few times I have put my hands on them 
pants just like a washerwoman beats clothes with the old 
soap-stick. Things are quite different now, corporal pun- 
ishment in the mill would not be tolerated under any 



22 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

and threatened to throw them out of a four-story window. 
And also I have frequently had to interview some of 
these little devils' parents, about the discipline I would en- 
force upon their unruly progeny. 

On a few occasions I haW\had some old hag approach 
me, with a big stick and unV;,yr very provoking circum- 
stances, about her "dear little' Johnnie, who had been 
mistreated by the boss." Nearly every boss spinner 
could^tell an interesting story, from his experience that 
would bear me out in saying that the way of a boss spin- 
ner is equally as hard as that of the transgressor, and 
there comes to every boss spinner a time when he has to 
"'grin and bear it" to keep from slapping some kid's face 
key-western-crooked. 

All of this, however, you will learn as you advance, 
and you must, of all things, learn to control your temper 
;and overook the many failings of the help. You cannot ex- 
pect them to do everything just as you would do it and you 
must remember that you can't put a grown person's head 
on a child's shoulders. Just do your best to train the help 
and teach them to do everything as near right as possible 
and you will find that if you get the respect and good will 
of the help you can lead them to do fight. 

Well, son, I promised to tell you something about oil- 
ing this week. You will find this to be more important 
than most people think. I could call the names of several 
overseers that I personally know have lost good jobs by 
neglecting the proper oiling of their machinery. And, too, 
I can't understand why some mill managers and mill own- 
<ef£ are so ignorant or careless of this subject. They will 
pay high prices for good machinery, employ the best su- 
perintendent and overseers to manage their mills and then 
insist on having some blamed fool that hasen't sense 
enough to pour sand out of a boot, to oil the ma- 
chinery. You will find in the mill where you are to-day, 
that it is the accepted rule that anybody can do the oiling. 
Yes and anybody can strike a match 'and stick • fire to a 
ten dollar bill. Simply because of the fact that anybody 
can pour oil out of a can, is no reason why so important a 
job as oiling of the machinery in a cotton mill, should be 
so sadly neglected. If you will just walk around about the 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 23 

machine shop and take a look at the scrap pile, you will 
find why I lay such emphasis upon the question of oiling, 
but the half is not told when you see the scrap pile, with 
its many broken and worn out parts, a veritable monu- 
ment to careless oiling. 

fa 
Oil is cheaper than mH^iinery and the way it is used 

in the average spinning room shows that it is considered 
cheap, alright, for I have yet to see the first mill where- 
less oil is put upon the floor, than upon the machinery. 
I believe it would be safe to say that about three- 
fourths of the oil delivered to a cotton mill is absolutely 
wasted. T don't think that statement is strong enough I 
am going to amend it by striking out the words "three- 
fourths" and inserting the words "ninety per cent." There 
is no doubt in my mind but that fully 90 per cent of the oil 
is wasted. You can find a thousand places about cotton mill 
machinery where one small drop of oil would be ample 
lubricant for a period, and if you will take the time to see 
how these places are oiled you wiil find the average oiler 
putting, say a teaspoonful where there should be one 
drop. "Willful waste makes woeful want," my son, and I 
want you to learn these things for your own good and for 
the good of your employer. 

Cotton mills are built to make money, but it is a won- 
der that more of them don't break or go into bankruptcy, 
in view of the great wastes that are allowed around them. 

Take the oiling of spindles on a spinning frame for an 
example of wastefulness. It is customary to oil spindles 
every two to four weeks, according to the different ideas 
of the superintendent or overseer in charge. 

High speed spindles require to be oiled with a very 
light oil, and this should be of good quality, cheap oils are 
worthless and are to be avoided. The average oiler on 
spinning puts more oil upon the floor and upon the rails 
than ever gets into the base of the spindle. If he uses a 
drip cup he generally files off the spout so that a large 
stream will pour from the cup, and when he starts at one 
end of the frame he pours a constant stream from the 
cup, jumping from one spindle to another, until he 
reaches the end or his cup runs empty. 



24 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

Several automatic systems of oiling the spindles have 
been tried, but as yet none have come into general use. 
I have seen one patented system that I believe will be 
eventually adopted with some minor improvement. It 
consists of an oil reservoir placed upon the head of the 
frame and at such a level tha\the oil flows, by gravity, 
through small pipes to the bases of the spindles. The 
height of the oil in the spindle base is shown through a 
glass in the oil reservoir, and the overseer or any one else 
can tell at any time, just how much oil is in the spindles. 

Some fool-proof oiling device for the spinning frame 
spindles, if perfected and made entirely practical and posi- 
tive in its action, should make its inventor immensely 
rich. 

I have frequently detected oilers skipping spindles, 
that is, sometimes when in a hurry to get through, they 
will oil two spindles and skip two or three, or perhaps 
sometimes they will skip a whole side if they are not 
watched carefully. Of course such careless or willfully 
negligent person, should not be retained under any cir- 
cumstances, unless you can persuade or force them to do 
their work right. 

The spindles and rolls are perhaps the most important 
parts of the spinning frame, so far as the oiling is con- 
cerned. 

The spindles should be oiled as often as necessary to 
keep them well oiled, and, it has always been my idea 
that it was better to oil them too much than too little. 

The rolls, if shells, should be oiled with a good non- 
fluid oil and the shells should be mapped out at regular in- 
tervals. 

Solid top rolls need more frequent oiling than shells, 
and only a small drop ibould be put on and that in the 
right place. 

For the top leather rolls an oil should be used that 
will not spread onto the leather, as this soon ruins them 
and will make the work run bad. 

I do not consider it necessary to lay down any specific 
rules as to how often any part of a spinning frame 
should be oiled, as this varies greatly with different kinds 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES 25 

of machinery and different local conditions, nearly every 
case will need special attention. 

It should suffice to say: that every part requiring oil. 
should be perfectly lubricated and kept clean at all times. 
All oil holes should be cj^fully cleaned out at regular 
intervals and care taken -o see that the oil reaches the 
proper place, and as little as possible wasted. 

Some spinners do not believe in oiling the lifting 
rods, while others maintain that they should be oiled with, 
good lard oil which seems to possess the quality of not 
gumming. 

Lifting rods frequently cause a great deal of trouble, 
by sticking and causing tangled bobbins, resulting in a 
great deal of waste yarn being made. One of the most 
common causes of lifting rods sticking is the frame being 
out of line or not level. As long as a lifting rod is per- 
fectly plumb it will not stick unless the bearing becomes 
clogged with lint. I remember one mill I went to some 
time ago where there had been a great deal of trouble 
with the sticking of the lifting rods. I am sure the trou- 
ble was the result of the frames being badly out of line 
and not level. The floors had settled, as all floors will, 
and as a result the rods would bind and stick. Instead of 
leveling up and lining the frames the overseer took out 
all the lifter-rod bushir?:s and had them filed or reamed 
out so as to allow the ~ods more play. The result was 
that there was about a quarter of an inch play, and the 
ring rail would wobble about from one side to the other, 
making it practically impossible to keep the spindle in the 
exact centre of the ring. This caused the spinning to run 
very badly, while it only partially overcome the trouble of 
sticking rods. 

Steel roll bearings should be oiled with a grease or 
non-fluid oil, that will not run out onto the flutes of the 
rolls, as this causes the yarn to become stained, and will 
also make the ends come down and lap up around the 
rolls, causing a great deal of waste and also ruining the 
rolls. 

Perhaps it would be safe to say that as a general rule, 
wherever two surfaces come into contact there lubrication 



26 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

is needed, the amount and kind being dependent upon the 
weight and speed or the friction between the two surfaces. 

You will note that there should be very little friction 
in the lifting rod bushing as the rods are supposed to be 
perfectly plumb and the bushi^,s are there to act merely 
as a guide, the entire weight oi the rod and the ring rail, 
which it supports, rests upon the roller carried by the 
rocker. 

My son, when you have learned to properly oil and 
band a spinning frame you will have learned a lesson that 
will be worth a great deal to you in years to come, if you 
continue in the cotton mill and make it your life work. 

The oiling and banding, in all its different phases is 
extremely important and should be in the hands of none 
but trustworthy employees, and then the overseer will 
find it to his advantage to keep the closest possible watch 
on these two essential details. 

Sincerely, 

DAD. 



LETTpfia NO. 4. 

MY Dear Son: While you are head-doff er you will 
have an opportunity to learn a great deal that will 
be of use to you later on, so be sure to make note 
of everything of importance as you go along. 

You will perhaps be held responsible for the cleaning 
that is generally, but not always, done by the doffers. I 
mean the cleaning of certain parts of the frames, such as 
the head-ends, rockers and gearing, and you should not 
slight this as being unimportant, because as a matter of 
fact, it is really one of the most important parts of run- 
ning' a spinning room. 

Besides the cleaning of certain parts of the machin- 
ery the doffers are usually required to clean-up all bad 
bobbins, cut off pieces, change travelers, gather up all 
bobbins that may be upon the floor, etc., etc., in fact I 
used to think that the boss lay awake at night studying- 
up things for the doffers to do. However, these things 
have become attached to the job, so firmly that, few, if 
any, ever complain now, at having to do these things. 

Doffers, as well as all other persons in a spinning 
room, should be taught to pick up every bobbin seen 
upon the floor. There should be no such thing as drop- 
ping bobbins upon the floor, and allowing them to remain 
there to be kicked and rolled around, and perhaps be- 
coming smashed. If they contain yarn this is sure to be- 
come soiled if it is not picked up promptly. The old rule 
of the doff-boys picking up bobbirs after they have made 
a "round" of doffing, should be done away with and it 
should, as already stated, be the rule for everybody to 
pick up a bobbin as quick as it is dropped. This will pre- 
vent a great deal of yarn from being damaged and also 
save many bobbins from being smashed, both of which 
will save money for your company. 



28 GREER'S SPINNING RULES 

Where the doff -boys are required to do certain clean- 
ing, you should see that this is done regularly and done 
thoroughly. 

Don't forget what was said in a former letter about, 
"what is worth doing at all is^ jj th doing well." 

It's a mighty good rule tcwSkvo a regular time for do- 
ing things, and then doing them when this time comes 
around. It is just like the good housekeeper's rule of 
having "a place for everything and everything in its 
place." 

One of the greatest'influences of life is the forming of 
habits. We can, by the use of a little good judgment, 
train ourselves to form good and regular habits, and this 
is very essential, not only in the mill but in our every act 
of daily life. 

We get in the habit of doing certain things and then 
follow the habit, utterly unconscious of the fact, so you 
see we should be very careful about what sort of habits 
we form. 

When it comes to changing travelers, you will find 
that there is a wide difference of opinion among overseers 
as to when they should be changed and how. 

Some overseers never change travelers at all, unless 
a change is made from one number of yarn to another or 
unless they wish to change from one number of traveler 
to another. They simply put on a traveler and let it run 
until it wears out and flies off. This will probably do on 
very fine numbers where the travelers are so delicate that 
they will fly off when they become worn but on coarse 
numbers it beccmes necessary to b^eak off' the travelers, 
at regular intervals, or as soon ts they become worn 
enough to cause bad running wor*r. 

As to how often travelers should be changed, this is a 
debatable question, but one rule will hold good and that is 
that they should be changed when they are worn enough to 
make bad yarn or cause the work to run bad. 

Now, son when you and your doff-boys are called upon 
to help change travelers, you shouid be very careful to 
see that everyone of the old ones pre broken off. I have 
frequently . seen boys when break] rig off travelers skip a 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES 29 

<• 

great many of them in order to get through with the job 
sooner. This is especially true wnen the frame is divided 
up into shares, each boy being giv^en so much of a side to 
break off and put on. I have seen them "race" to see 
which one would get through with their share first, and 
some of them would, when no one was looking, break off 
only every other traveler. 

You can imagine what kind or worh. will result from 
such doings as this and I merely mention these things 
that you may learn right at the beginning of your career 
to look out for the little things. 

Another important thing about changing travelers is 
the method of breaking them off. It used to be the cus- 
tom, and some practice it yet, to take a roving bobbin and 
hit the traveler a solid blow with the end of the bobbin. 
This will break the traveler, all right, but generally re- 
sults in knocking the ring out of position, and it also dam- 
ages the ring, and for tiiese reasons should not be used. 
About the best way to break off travelers is to have a 
hook made of brass or some soft metal, „ that will not 
scratch the ring, and by placing this hook under the bow 
of the traveler a slight twist will be sufficient to break it 
off. 

Now, another thing you should learn while you are 
head-doffer, is that in order to get production, every 
frame must be kept running. Don't let your doffers lag 
behind until there are several frames stopped, but push 
them up and don't have but the one frame stopped at a 
time. 

When a frame is stopped to doff, it should be started 
again as quickly as possible, and the ends broken down 
while doffing should be pieced up immediately and before 
the boys leave the frame, that is where the boys do their 
own piecing. If end-piecers are used they should be ready 
to piece up the ends when the frame is started. Also you 
should arrange your doffing so that you can doff every 
other frame, across the room, so as to not have too many 
frames doffing at the same time on one spinner, which 
will result in giving the spinner a great deal of trouble. 
It is sometimes difficult to properly arrange the dof- 



30 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

fing, especially, if there are a great many different num- 
bers of yarn being made, as the frames will not fill up 
regularly. However, the object to be sought for, is to ar- 
range your doffing so that the frames may be kept run- 
ning, and with as little inconvenience as possible to the 
spinners. This is co-operation, and that's another good 
word I want you to learn. Let everybody work together 
for the best results, at all times, and in all ways possible, 
and there will not only be a successfully run mill, but each 
one will find their work more satisfactory. 

If the frames are so adjusted that they fill the bobbins 
properly it will greatly help the proper arranging of the 
doffing. 

The traverses should be set so as to put as much 
yarn on the bobbins as possible, not to tangle, because 
the more yarn you can get on a bobbin the less doffing 
there will be to do, and it also helps the spooling, in case 
of warp yarn; it helps the weaver on filling yarn, and the 
winders on yarn that goes to the winders. 

I have seen men in charge of spinning rooms who 
gave little or no attention to these details, with the result 
that they were always in trouble with some other depart- 
ment of the mill. The boss weaver would be continually- 
complaining of the quills not being properly "filled up," 
the spooler room boss would send back bobbins that were 
not "full," and there would be an ill feeling between the 
heads of the various departments, all of which results in 
poor service for the company. 

The more filling you can get on a quill, the longer it 
will run in the shuttle on the loom, this helps and conse- 
quently pleases the weaver, also it tends to reduce the 
cost of weaving, as well as to make better cloth. 

The same thing applies to the warp yarn on spoolers, 
the more yarn you can get on a bobbin, the less ends there 
will be to tie-up, and this not only helps to increase the 
production on the spooler, but it improves the gMality of 
the work, by there being fewer knots in the yarn 

I have seen a great deal of trouble and general con- 
fusion among the overseers and help, which came as a re- 
sult of neglecting these matters, which I am warning you 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES 31 

about so that you may avoid them as much as possible. 

Many an overseer, who was otherwise a good man 
has lost his position by becoming careless of these little 
things. Any boss spinner can tell you that one of his 
most perplexing problems is bad doffing and careless end 
piecing. 

Doffers are considered by a great many mill men as a 
"necessary evil" and there is no denying that a set of 
badly trained or careless doffers can cause as much trou- 
ble and loss to a mill as nearly any other one thing. 

A doffing machine has been x near-reality for several 
years and that it will soon be perfected and come into 
general use is greatly to be hoped for. The perfecting of 
such a machine will no doubt mark the greatest advance- 
ment in spinning for a hundred years. 

Doffers should be trained to break down as few ends 
as possible, while doffing and in piocing-up there should be 
no lapping of ends. They should be required to do their 
own end piecing as this will have a tendency to make 
them more careful, and with the general carelessness that 
usually attends the class of boys we have for doffers, we 
need every restraint thrown about them to get them to do 
their best work. 

A good many mills, now pay their doffers on the piece- 
fate plan, that is they are paid so much per side for dof- 
fing and piecing-up, or for doffing where they have end- 
piecers. This plan has its advantages and disadvantages. 

While generally all piece work is commendable in that 
it furnishes an incentive for more work, there are cases 
where it Js applicable only at a disadvantage. 

When doffers are on piece-work there will be an in- 
clination for some to run ahead of others, and have many 
frames stopped at one time. Also they will if allowed to, 
doff the frames before they are properly filled, thereby 
attempting to get more doffs. 

All of these things, however, must be looked after, 
and overcome by the overseer, in fact, if it were not for 
the thousands of little details, some of which I have 
enumerated in this letter, there would be little for an 
overseer to do. 

These are things, my boy, that you must learn,, and 



32 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

not forget. 

Your letter which has just reached me is very en- 
couraging. I am glad to know you like your work as 
head-doffer, and I believe you will soon be promoted to a 
section. 

Yes, it does take a great deal of patience to work 
with a "bunch of kids" as you express it. In fact I have 
thought, at times, that if old Job had had to run a spin- 
ning room with some of the "bunches of kids" that it has 
been my pleasure? to meet, he would have considered all 

other afflictions as beds of roses, even the boils would 
have been as blackheads in comparison. 

Sincerely, 

DAD. 



LETTER NO. 5. 

MY Dear Son: — Your letter has just reached me after 
being delayed for a week or more. I am greatly- 
pleased to know that you are getting along so nicely 
and that you continue to like the work.' I have carefully 
considered all you have said about the men you are work- 
ing for and while I agree with you in most of what you 
say, there are some things in your letter that you should 
not have said. You will learn as you grow older that it is 
impossible to have everything to your liking, especially is 
this true in running a spinning room. We must do our 
very best to get things done right, but as long 
as we have to depend on human labor, there 
will be no perfection. It is human to do wrong 
and to be careless, and you need not get fret- 
ted when you find that people won't do things just like 
you tell them to do them. They never have done it and I 
don't believe they ever will. If you could start up a room 
and have plenty of help to run every job and each one 
would run their job as it should bb done, there would be 
no need for a boss, the superintendent could hire a hand 
for each job and tell them how to run it, and then go away 
and leave it to them, but this is all out of the question, 
there must be bosses and as long as there are bosses, 
those under them must learn to obey them, and consider 
that the bosses have a duty to perform as much so as the 
common hand. Each one must do their duty, and when 
this is done everything will run smoothly. It is just like a 
stone building, each stone supports its part of the struct- 
ure and the whole taken together forms one. complete and 
harmonious edifice. 

My Son you must learn to be content with doing your 
best, remember, that no one can completely overcome all 
the fallacies of human nature, but be sure that you do 



34 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

your very best and when that is done you can have the 
satisfaction of knowing that even God himself could not d® 
more. When one does their best, that's the limit. What 
else or what more could they do? 

I note from your letter that you are still head-doffer 
and that you have been helping the section men to do the 
changing, thats right, take every opportunity to learn all 
you can and don't be afraid of getting your hands dirty, it 
has never yet hurt anyone. 

I never think of changing gears on a spinning frame, 
without remembering that nearly thirty years ago I used 
to hold a lantern for my father to change gears. At that 
time I worked in a mill where they did not have electric 
lights and I remember how I used to have to brush off the 
gas pipes every evening just before lighting-up time. I 
would take a broom and go up one alley and down another 
brushing the lint off of the gas jets, and a man would fol- 
low me with a torch and light each jet. At stopping time 
it was the doffer boy's job to put out the lights, each one 
having so many lights to turn out, and I used to think 
that the "old man" always gave me the ones fartherest 
away from the door so that I would have to run over every 
blamed doff box in the mill in getting out after the last 
light was put out, but I soon learned how to get by that 
proposition, I would have nearly all my lights out before 
the whistle blew, that is when the boss didn't watch me 
too close. 

I remember that sometimes the spinning would get to 
running bad and we doffers would have to get in and help 
the spinners to run their work. This seemed all wrong to 
me at that time, but I learned better when I got older and 
had more experience, just like you will see things in a dif- 
ferent light when you get more experience. 

When the spinning got to running bad, it was then, that 
my father and I used to go back to the mill after supper 
and change twist gears to "beat the band." I would hold 
a lantern for him to see how to change them. 

The changing of gears in a spinning room is an im- 
portant matter and should be attended to by one who will 
be careful. In the changing of the draft gears you should 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 35 



always see that you do not let the back roll slip back- 
wards; for this will cut the yarn, and often cause a whole 
side of ends to come down when the frame is started. It 
is best to turn the cylinder backwards just a little before 
starting to change the gear, as this will generally bring the 
gears into proper position for changing. Then, too, you 
should see that the teeth of the gears mesh properly, not 
too deep, nor yet too shallow, but they should be set so 
that they will not quite bottom. . 

It is very important that all gears should be correctly 
numbered and they should be kept in a gear cabinet, with 
a separate stall for each number, and they should be ta- 
ken up, cleaned, and put away as soon as they are 
changed. Do not allow them to lay around on the ends of 
the frames or on top of the creels after they are taken 
out of use. They will get lost and will also get black oil 
on the creels which will ruin a lot of roving or anything 
else that may be put on the creels later. It pays to have 
a good supply of gears of each number, especially, where 
you have to do a great deal of changing as is the case in 
a lot of yarn mills. 

I have seen mills where they would not buy, nor have 
made, the proper number of gears to do the changing, and 
I have had to use two or three different numbers of gears, 
in making changes simply because I did not have and 
could not get the right number. I mean by that, that if I 
was making number twenties with a thirty draft gear and 
the yarn should get a little light and I wanted to heavy up 
one tooth, and put on a thirty-one tooth gear, I would not 
have enough thirty-ones to change all the frames that 
were on twenties. Sometimes the superintendent would 
tell me to put on what thirty-ones I had and finish out 
with thirty-twos, the latter of course would make the 
yarn as much too heavy as it was too light before the 
change. Some mills practice this kind of foolishness, and 
use whatever they have on hand rather than get what is 
right, with the result of having a great deal of uneven 
yarn. Such false economy can be found in a great many 
places. 

I have seen mill men who were too stingy or too care- 



36 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

less to buy a set of dies with which to number their gears, 
and when it became necessary to change gears, the sec- 
tion hand or second hand would have to count each gear 
to see if it had the correct number of teeth, this of course, 
is a cruel waste of valuable time, besides resulting in an 
occasional general mix-up of gears. 

No up-to-date machine shop will or should send out a 
change gear without having it properly numbered, and 
then they should be kept in a suitable place, conveniently 
provided, and arranged for keeping them separate and 
clean at all times. 

Son, next week I am going to take up a few calcula- 
tions with you and begin to teach you how to figure out 
any change that may be necessary. I feel sure that you 
are learning very fast and I am proud of the fact that you 
are with good men and a good company. Let me hear 
from you regularly. Sincerely, 

DAD. 



LETTER NO. 6. 

MY Dear Son: — I am just in receipt of your valued 
letter telling me you had been promoted to a sec- 
tion, good for you, go to it! I knew you could do it 
and I was not altogether surprised when I received your 
letter telling me that you had been promoted. 

Now Son, let me tell you something, — but wait a min- 
ute, till I get my pipe loaded up — now the old pipe is 
smoking like a German cannon at the battle of Aisne, and 
by the way do you smoke ? If you do, for Heavens sake 
cut the cigarette and smoke a good pipe. 

Speaking of smoking reminds me that when I was a 
kid my father used to make me smoke, yes sir, but he 
didn't furnish any fragrant havanas or even a good old 
jimmy pipe, nope, he used a leather belt or a top clearer 
off of a spinning frame, and I'll tell you what's a fact, top 
clearers would make fine clothes cleaners, I've seen them 
used in the dry cleaning process and they certainly make 
the dust fly, but hereafter I want mine removed from my 
frame before being subjected to this dry cleaning process. 

Now, as a section hand you will have greater oppor- 
tunity, as well as more responsibilities, and you should be- 
gin to be more serious about your duties. 

You should begin to study human nature as you take 
up the duties of directing others. 

You will find that people vary as much in their dispo- 
sitions as they do in their features, no two people being 
exactly alike in every particular, some will require a little 
humoring, others must be dealt with in a cold austere 
manner, and still others require to be let severely alone. 
Some require one kind of treatment, some another, but on 
the whole you will find it best to be firm, yet kind and 
considerate of all. 



38 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

If you will be careful, cautious and considerate, in the 
management of the help placed under your charge, you 
will soon have the good will and respect of all with 
whom you come in contact. 

In spite of the most careful attention to your duties, 
you will, at times find yourself in a predicament with your 
help. When such times come, you should endeavor to 
keep your head, and above all be loyal to your employers, 
Teach your help to be loyal to the interests of the com- 
pany for which they are working and when things go 
wrong, when the work runs bad, when help gets short or 
when business gets dull for the mill, remember that it is 
then that you should, rise to the occasion and show your 
worth to your employer. 

The poet put it this way: 

"It's easy enough to be pleasant, 

When life moves along like a song. 

But the man worth while, 

Is the man who can smile 

When everything goes dead-wrong." 

Try as hard as we may we cannot avoid difficulties, 
they will come in every business and in every kind of work 
under the sun, but every difficulty overcome, every trou- 
ble encountered and surmounted only strengthens us and 
prepares us to overcome still greater difficulties. 

The enforcing of discipline in a cotton mill and espe- 
cially in the spinning room is a serious matter, and calls 
for men of good judgment. To be equal to any task, to 
rise to any emergency, you must be ever on the alert, giv- 
ing your work the most careful attention. 

Along with your enlarged duties and opportunities 
there will come increased temptations. As your wages 
become greater you will have more money to spend or 
more to save, just as you choose. Also you are now in po- 
siiton where you will come in direct contact with many 
girls and women, some or whom will not bear a reputation 
equal to that of Ceasar's wife. 

Taken as a class and considering the environments of 
the girls who work in the mlils, it is my opinion that 
there is considerably mort virtue, and certainly more mod- 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 39 

esty than you generally find in the higher circles of so- 
ciety. However, you will occasionally meet with those, 
whose company you must shun, if you would succeed in 
life. Nothing will more surely ruin a man in business, 
than undue intimacy with his female employees. Read 
the fifth and seventh chapters of Proverbs and take 
warning from the wisest man who ever lived. 

I promised to give you some calculations this week 
and from the way you are progressing I think you will 
soon have need for them. 

One of the first things you should learn is the system 
used for numbering cotton yarn, as this is largely used in 
nearly all the calculations that you will find a need for. 

One hank of number one yarn weighs one pound. It 
is upon this basis that the entire system of numbering 
cotton yarns is established. This system, while simple, is 
not always easily understood by the student. Let us ana- 
lyze this system and get it in the simplest form possible, 
that we may thoroughly understand just what is meant by 
yarn numbering. A hank of cotton yarn is 840 yards in 
length. This is the standard length upon which all calcu- 
lations are based. 

The number of hanks, required to weigh one pound 
(avoirdupois,) is the number of the yarn. 

To find the number of cotton yarn: 
Rule: Reel off 120 yards and weigh it. Divide the 
weight, in grains into 1000, the quotient is the number of 
the yarn. 

Example: Suppose 120 yards of yarn is found to weigh 
50 grains, then: 1000 -f- 5Q = 20, the yarn would be call- 
ed number 20. The weight of one hank (840 yards) in 
grains divided into 7000 (the number of grains in one 
pound) equals, the number. 

The reason why it is customary to use 120 yards in- 
stead of 840 yards, in the making of yarn calculations is 
on account of the excessive waste that would result from 
frequent sizings of 840 yards each, we reduce the length 
and weight in the same proportion using 120 yards which 
is 1-7 of a hank and 1000 grains which is 1-7 of a pound. 
The following tables are used in cotton yarn numbering. 



40 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

Table of Measurement. 
1 1-2 yards — 1 thread or circumference of yarn reel. 
120 yards =3 80 threads t= 1 skein. 
840 yards == 560 threads = 7 skeins = 1 hank. 
Table of Weights. 
27.34 grains = 1 dram. 
437.5 grains = 16 drams — 1 ounce. 
7000 grains = 256 drams = 16 ounces = 1 pound. 
Practical Examples. 
To find the number of any amount of yarn when the 
length and weight are known: 

Rule: Divide the total length in yds. by the weight in 
pounds, and the result obtained by 840, (the standard 
length of one hank). 

Example What would be the number of 168,000 yards 
of yarn, if it weighed 20 pounds? 

Divide the length, 168,000 by 20 pounds = 8400 and this 
divided by 840 = 10 the number of the yarn. 

What would be the number of yarn in a warp 4200 
yards in length, if it contained 400 ends and weighed 100 
pounds. First find the total length of yarn in the warp by 
multiplying the length 4,200 by the number of ends 400. 
4200X400=1,680,000 then applying the rule given, 1,680,- 
000-1-100=16,800-^840=20 the number of the yarn. 

What would be the weight of a warp 4200 yards in 
length, if it contained 400 ends and was made up of num- 
ber 20 yarn? As in the preceding example first find the 
total number of yards in the warp. This is done by mul- 
tiplying the length by the number of ends, 4200x400= 
1,680,000 yards then divide this by the number of the yarn 
and by 840. 1,680,000-^-20=84,000-^-840= 100 pounds, the 
weight of the warp. 

To find the length of yarn in a warp: 

How many yards of yarn would there be in a warp 
weighing 100 pounds and made up of number 20 yarn. 

Rule: Multiply 840 by the number of yarn and this 
result by the weight of the warp, thus: 840X20X100= 
1,680.000 yards, total length of yarn in the warp. 

I have put these calculations in the simplest form I 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 41 

could think of so that you could get at the very founda- 
tion of yarn calculation. 

Later on we will take up the questions of draft, twist, 
production and all the other necessary calculations per- 
taining to spinning. 

Keep pegging away son, and don't he afraid of work. 
Take right a-hold of anything that it becomes necessary 
for you to do and constantly keep in mind that nothing 
can be accomplished without hard work, and while you 
are working don't forget to learn the value of time, it is 
the greatest asset of all those who have become famous 
or even done things worth while. Napoleon was once 
asked why he so completely overwhelmed every enemy 
that came before him, to which he replied, "they (his ene- 
mies) do not know the value of time." 

Read this letter carefully son and then write me what 
you think about it. Sincerely, 

DAD 



LETTER NO. 7. 

MY Dear Son: Your letter has just come to hand 
telling me about the labor troubles that had sprang 
up at the mill where you are. 

Now my advice to you is to keep entirely away from 
this sort of thing, don't take sides with either party in a 
dispute where no good is to be the result, you have every- 
thing to lose and nothing to gain, so be neutral and keep 
out of any entangling alliance. 

I am not opposed to a properly organized and well 
regulated labor union, I believe that labor has as much 
right to organize as has capital. The laboring man has 
rights, there is no denying that and as a general proposi- 
tion no one does deny it. I believe that some labor un- 
ions, such as the well organized trade unions, do a great 
deal of good and if you will take the trouble to investi- 
gate you will find that they are organized for mutual 
benefit and not to antagonize their employers. 

The labor union that makes trouble for everybody is 
the one that is fostered by a gang of foreigners, who care 
no more for the rights of labor, than they do for well or- 
ganized democratic government, and it is their sworn pur- 
pose in life to destroy all forms of government. 

There is no need for labor unions among the textile 
operatives of the South. The industry has progressed 
and prospered here, as no where else on earth, and there 
has sprang up a feeling of mutual dependence between 
employer and employee, that it will be difficult to break 
down, moreover, he who attempts to destroy this mutu- 
ality is a traitor! 

The best friend the mill operatives of the South have 
to-day, is the mill owners. 

He is their best friend simply because of the fact, that 
he has, in most cases grown up with them and amid simi- 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 43 

lar surroundings, furthermore there is, as already stated, 
a feeling of mutual dependence, which is growing strong- 
er every year. There is absolutely no excuse for anyone 
to try to stir up a feeling of discontent among the mill 
operatives where this feeling of mutual dependence pre- 
vails. 

A strike is an instrument made use of by those who 
have become temporarily insane 

It injures everyone who comes in contact with it and 
sometimes its harmful effects descend to the third and 
fourth generation. Expressed in plain blunt words, a 
strike hurts everybody and helps nobody. This is the lit- 
eral truth, as shown by the history of strikes for the past 
hundred years. 

I have stated that I am not opposed to a well organ- 
ized labor union. I mean by that, that I am heartily in fa- 
vor of giving the mill operative, all the freedom and privi- 
lege that any other people have, but I am unalterably op- 
posed to foreigners coming into the South and organizing 
our people into unions for no other purpose than to plun- 
der and rob them and to set up a doctrine of anarchy 
that is in the highest degree repugnant to our best inter- 
ests, and destructive to our civil and religious freedom. 

Does any sensible person believe that these foreign 
interlopers are actuated by a sense of brotherly feeling, 
when they come from a section that has always been hos- 
tile to the Southern people? 

Son, be not deceived, by a wolf in sheep's clothing. 
The underlying motive in this effort to organize labor un- 
ions among the Southern mill operatives, by Northern 
and foreign interests, is a business proposition pure and 
simple, for the benefit of the organizers at the expense of 
the organized. Keep away from it as you would a plague. 

If the Southern textile workers must have an organi- 
zation, let them organize one suitable to conditions in this 
section. 

To adapt the tenets of an organization foreign and an- 
tagonistic to this section is the height of folly. As well 
might we substitute a fetishism for Christianity. The true 
solution of this problem is, I believe, for every manufac- 



44 GREER'S SPINNING RULES 

turer to realize that his employees are entitled to a just 
wage and to a fair and impartial hearing in the adjust- 
ment of any differences that may arise in the relations of 
. employer and employee. On the other hand the employee 
should fully understand that the employer has many and 
serious responsibilities, and that in furnishing them with 
employment at a just wage they are entitled to and should 
receive honest and loyal service. When an employee ren- 
ders efficient service, he may go to his employer, with the 
assurance of getting a faithful hearing on any supposed or 
actual grievance that he may have. Not to believe this is 
unreasonable, for how can any intelligent person refuse to 
consider their own interest? 

The employer knows better than anyone else that he 
cannot operate his mill, successfully, without the best la- 
bor obtainable, and it is he who is giving of both time and 
money to raise the standard of the Southern mill opera- 
tive. 

But here I am giving you a lecture on things you, 
perhaps, already know, when I had promised to give you 
some more figures, but after all I want you to learn the 
human side of the industry as well as the theoretical side. 
I have known many men to make successful mill mana- 
gers, who were short on theoretical knowledge, but long 
on knowledge of human nature. They were good mana- 
gers; had a tact for getting and keeping good men and 
letting them attend to the details. One in your position, 
however, should learn every detail of the business, for 
nothing stamps a man "master of the situation" so much 
as to be able to tell those under him exactly how to do a 
thing and if necessary, to be able to take hold and show 
them that he not only knows how it should be done, but 
that he can do it. 

Don't let the trouble that has come up at your mill 
discourage you in the least, it is only one of those things 
that seem to be incident to business. Sit steady in the 
boat, don't let misfortune dissuade you from your purpose. 
"The little mind is tamed and subdued by misfortunes, the- 
great mind rises above them." 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES 45 

The true unionism to be hoped for is a unionism of 
employer and employee. 

Such a union may be slow in coming but it is inevita- 
ble, the best interests of both parties demand it, the rela- 
tion of master and servant is gradually falling into disre- 
pute and in its place there is being set up a mutual rela- 
tionship of employer and employee. 

It has been proven a thousand times that men who 
work in harmony are twice as valuable as those who 
are antagonistic to each other. I have taken up all 
my space for this letter and will have to stop now, but I 
trust you will find food for thought in what I have said 
here. The following verse from James Whitcomb Riley 
comes to mind just at this time and I give it here for your 
inspiration : 

KEEP ON. 



If the day looks kinder gloomy, 
• An' your chances kinder slim, 
If the situation's puzzlin' 

An' the prospect's awful grim, 
An' perplexities keep pressin' 

'Til all hope is nearly gone, 
Just bristle up and grit your teeth, 

An' keep on keepin' on. 

Fumin' never wins a fight, 

An' frettin' never pays; 
There ain't no good of broodin' in 

These pessimistic ways — 
Smile just kinder cheerfully 

When nope is nearly gone, 
And bristle up and grit your teeth, 

An' keep on keepin' on. 



46 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

There ain't no use in growlin' 

An' grumblin' all the time 
When music's ringin' everywhere 

An' everything's a rhyme — 
Just keep on smilin' cheerfully 

If hope is nearly gone, 
An' bristle up and grit your teeth, 

An' keep on keepin' on. 
Just keep on keeping on, you are doing nicely and I am 
proud of you. Write me regularly and when I can help 
you it will afford me the greatest pleasure to do so. 

Sincerely, DAD. 



LETTER NO. 8. 

■m jb-Y Dear Son: Your letter has come to hand and I 
I Y I note what you say about making a change. Under 
**• ""• the conditions existing at your mill you will do 
well to stay there. There is nothing to be gained by a 
continual moving from one place to another. 

Instead of giving you the figures I had prepared for 
you, I am going to give you a paper that I read before 
the Southern Textile Association, at Chattanooga, Tenn., 
in 1912, on the subject of changes. 

"Why So Many Changes?" 

Mr. President: I wish to speak a few words upon a 
subject that seems to me to be one of the most important 
issues before the Southern Textile Industry, to-day. An 
issue that vitally affects the earning power of every cotton 
mill in the Southern States; one upon which depends the 
happiness of thousands of the homes of our mill people; 
one that is partly responsible for the present high cost of 
living. The proper settlement of the question to which I 
refer would add roses to the pathway of the cotton mill 
superintendent and overseer where now there are only 
thorns. Mr. President I refer to the question that has 
tfeen asked a thousand times and answered with as many 
different answers. Why so many changes? Why are there 
so many changes among our mill people here in the South? 
I am told that this condition does not prevail in other lines 
of work nor does it exist in other sections of the textile 
industry. 

Every member of this association is familiar with the 
fact that a large number of our mill people are continually 
moving from one mill to another, and a few years ago 
when there was a great scarcity of labor and thousands of 
spindles and looms were idle, it was conservatively esti- 



48 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

mated that there were enough mill hands on the road 
moving from one mill to another to run every idle machine 
in the South. Now as sure as water runs down hill, there 
is a cause for this condition. What is it? Do they move 
to better their condition? Do they get an increase of 
wages every time they move? Do they find a more health- 
ful place to live every time they move? If so some of our 
operatives 'would soon be rich and living at health resorts. 
Gentlemen, I do not propose to tell you that this con- 
dition can be changed by any revolutionary method. I do 
not wish to be considered a pessimist. I am an optimist by 
nature. I believe there is more good in the world than 
there is bad, that there are more sunny days than there 
are cloudy days and that everything happens for the best, 
but we all know that clouds and gloom will come at fre- 
quent intervals. We cannot have sunshine and flowers 
all the time. If the individual members of this association 
will give serious attention to the question I am referring 
to, much good will result therefrom. The big question 
before the cotton mill superintendent and overseer to-day 
is not how to figure draft and twist," nor the proper con- 
struction of a piece of cloth. These are matters of sec- 
ondary importance. A great many of the operatives in 
our mills can make all the necessary calculations for op- 
erating the machinery. Those three excellent textile week- 
lies published in Charlotte together with that high class 
textile journal published in Atlanta and the many text 
books now on the market are educating the mill people of 
the South in a technical way. Even the unlettered man 
has ways and means of obtaining results from the ma- 
chinery. 

Take for instance the production of a card. While 
this may be obtained in several ways by figuring from the 
gears and speeds a short and simple way to obtain the re- 
sult is as follows: Stand before a card, with a watch, 
break down the end and allow the sliver to run upon the 
floor for one minute. The weight of this sliver in grains 
multiplied by six and divided by seventy gives the pro- 
duction in pounds for ten hours running time. This rule 
also applies to any other machine in the card room. 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 49 

Now I say again these technical matters are of sec- 
ondary importance. The big job today of running a cotton 
mill is the handling of the labor problem and it would be 
well for this association, composed as it is, of the men 
who are to handle this problem first hand, to discuss ways 
and means of bringing about more stability among our op- 
eratives. Some of the best managed mills are now giving 
attention to this problem and a great deal is being done to 
make living conditions for the mill operative more attract- 
ive than heretofore. The people themselves, however, are 
largely responsible for so much changing and they need to 
be taught by precept and example that often they have 
good opportunities right where they are and that instead 
of going away to hunt for bigger possibilities, they should 
develop their present holdings. No doubt ninety per cent 
of the changes are made with the intention of doing bet- 
ter but the people are simply mistaken or misled. 

It seems to have become a habit with our people to 
look elsewhere for what they desire. I am reminded here 
of the story of Al Hafed, an ancient Persian, who owned a 
large farm with orchards, grain fields and gardens. He 
had money at interest, had a beautiful wife and lovely 
children and was a wealthy and contented man; content- 
ed because he was wealthy and„wealthy because he was 
contented. One day there visited the old Persian farmer 
one of those ancient Buddist priests, one of the wise men 
of the East who sat down by Al Hafed's fireside and told 
the old farmer how this world was made. He told him 
that this world was once a great bank of fog and that the 
Almighty thrust his finger into this bank of fog and began 
slowly to move his finger around and then increased the 
speed of his finger until he whirled this bank of fog into 
a solid ball of fire and as it went rolling through the uni- 
verse burning its way through other banks of fog it con- 
densed the moisture until it fell in floods of rain upon the 
heated surface of the world and cooled the outward crust, 
then the internal fire bursting the cooling crust threw up 
the mountains and hills and valleys of this wonderful 
world of ours, and said the old priest, if this internal melted 
mass burst forth and cooled very quickly it became gran- 



50 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

ite. If it cooled more slowly it became copper. If it cool- 
ed less quickly, silver — less quickly, gold, and after gold 
diamonds were made. Said the old priest a diamond is a 
congealed drop of sunlight. 

The old priest told Al Hafed if he had a diamond the 
size of his thumb he could purchase a dozen farms like his 
and said the priest if you had a handful of diamonds you 
could purchase a county and if you had a mine of dia- 
monds you could purchase kingdoms and place your chil- 
dren upon thrones through the influence of your great 
wealth. 

Al Hafed heard all about the diamonds that night and 
went to bed a poor man. He wanted a whole mine of dia- 
monds. Early in the morning he sought the priest and 
awoke him. Al Hafed said, "Will you tell me where I can 
find diamonds?" The priest said, "What you you want of 
diamonds? Said Al Hafed, "I want to be immensely rich." 
"Well, said the. priest, if you want diamonds all you have 
to do is to go and find them and then you will have 
them." "But, said Al Hafed, I don't know where to go." 

"If you will find a river that runs over white sands, be- 
tween high mountains, in those white sands you will al- 
ways find diamonds." "But, asked Al Hafed, do you be- 
lieve there is such a river?" "Plenty of them; all you 
have to do is just go where they are. "Well, said Al Ha- 
fed, I will go." So he sold his farm, collected his money 
that was at interest, left his family in charge of a neigh- 
bor and away he went in search of diamonds. He began 
his search at the mountains of the Moon, afterward he 
came around into Palestine and then wandered on into 
Europe. At last when his money was all gone and he was 
in rags, poverty and wretchedness, he stood on the shore 
at Barcelona in Spain. When a great tidal wave swept 
upon the shore the poor starving, afflicted stranger could 
not resist the awful temptation to cast himself into that 
incoming tide and he sank beneath its foamy crest never 
to rise in this life again. 

Now the man who purchased Al Hafed's farm led his 
camel out into the garden to drink and as the animal put 
his nose into the shallow water of the garden brook, A3 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 51 

Hafed's successor noticed a curious flash of light from 
the white sands of the stream. Reaching in he pulled out 
a black stone containing a strange eye of light. He took 
it into the house as a curious pebble and putting it on the 
mantel went his way and forgot all about it, but not long 
after that the same old priest came to visit Al Hafed's suc- 
cessor. The moment he opened the door he noticed the 
flash of light. He rushed to the mantel and said, "Here is 
a diamond! here is a diamond! Has Al Hafed returned?" 
"Oh no, Al Hafed has not returned and we have not heard 
from him since he went away, and that is not a diamond, 
it is nothing but a stone we found out in our garden." 

"But, said the priest, I know a diamond when I see it, 
I tell you that is a diamond." Then together they went out 
into the garden. They stirred up the white sands with 
their fingers and there came up other, more beautiful, 
more valuable gems than the first. Thus was discovered 
the diamond mines of Golconda, the most valuable dia- 
mond mines in the history of the ancient world. 

Had Al Hafed remained at home and dug in his own 
cellar or in his own wheat fields instead of wretchedness, 
starvation, poverty and death in a strange land, he would 
have had acres of diamonds. Acres of diamonds, Yes, for 
it is historically true that every acre of that old farm, 
even every shovelful, afterward revealed the gems which 
since have decorated the crowns of monarchs. 

Very few of us ever dream that we may have acres of 
diamonds in our present position though we can look back 
and see the results when it is too late. 

Now young men sometimes say: "There is no ad- 
vancement where I am, my employer is unappreciative, 
he is unjust." It is true that there are such instances. 
There are mean men in all lines of business, no doubt, but 
as a rule the fault lies more often with the employee than 
with the employer. Very few employers will prevent the 
cream of their establishment from rising to the top. It 
wouldn't be good business to do so. If you are certain that 
you are with the wrong firm or not in the right business 
then your duty requires you to make a change but be care- 



52 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

ful that you do not leave acres of diamonds to hunt for the 
end of the rainbow. . 

Now, I have not answered the question. Why so 
many changes? nor could I do so in the short time neces- 
sarily given to these discussions here; A great many 
changes are induced by advertisements for help; some of 
which are as much exaggerated and as misleading as the 
ordinary circus poster. Many a happy and contented fam- 
ily have been lured into moving through this means, that 
probably could not have been moved otherwise and often 
instead of bettering their condition, instead of finding 
diamonds they soon wake up to the awful fact that they 
have made a mistake and they either return to their for- 
mer home or continue to move from place to place hoping 
for something better. 

Frequently changes are made on account of the lack of 
managing ability on the part of the superintendent or 
overseer. It requires considerable tact to manage the or- 
dinary mill operative of the South, and this quality is 
greatly lacking in many of our men. Sometimes disputes 
arise among the operatives that can only be adjusted by 
the mature judgment of the superintendent, or overseer in 
charge, and if this matter is left with some section man 
or head doffer — as it sometimes is — it may result in one 
or two families of competent mill help becoming dissatis- 
fied and moving away. I have seen this happen and so 
have you and when one party becomes dissatisfied at a 
place, they can and often do influence others to leave. 

The vast majority of people are like sheep they follow 
a leader, so where you have strong leaders for good the 
majority will generally follow and vice versa. We must 
teach our people that it does not pay to be continually 
changing. We can take for a text the words of Carlysle, 
"Our grand business undoubtedly, is not to see what lies 
dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand." 
One other illustration and I am through. 

Some years ago there was a contented and well-to-do 
farmer in Pennsylvania who having heard of the enor- 
mous profits to be made in* oil decided to sell his farm and 
embark in the oil business. He wrote to a friend in New 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 53 

York of what he intended doing. This friend being better 
posted on such matters advised that he first study the oil 
business and learn something of it before taking such a 
radical step. Acting upon this advice the farmer bought 
up all of the literature available on the subject of oil and 
began a systematic study. After six montlxS of study and 
careful research he again wrote his friend saying that now 
he knew all about oil from the second day of God's Crea- 
tion down to the present time. So he sold his farm and 
went to New York to engage in the oil business. A few 
days later, the man to whom he sold his farm went down 
to the creek to water his horses. He noticed at the wa- 
tering placs some boards placed at an angle across the 
stream to tnrow to one side a heavy scum through which 
the horses would not drink. An investigation was made 
and it was learned that this man who knew all there was 
to be known about oil and who had sold this farm for 
$800.00 and moved away to enter the oil business had for 
23 years been damming up one of the righest streams of 
coal oil ever found in America and from which subsequent 
owners have made millions of dollars. 

It is often said that the man who never makes a mis- 
take never makes anything and it may be true but it is 
worth while that we take a retrospective view of our own 
lives and resolve that if we must make mistakes they 
shall be as few as possible and that we will not make the 
same mistake twice. Let us seek always to build up and 
improve our present opportunities instead of choosing vain 
and imaginary greatness and let us not forget that: 

"Time will bring summer, when briars will have blos- 
soms as well as thorns, and those blossoms will be as sweet 
as the thorns are sharp." 

Son, you will do well to study this phase of your mill 
work carefully. It is more important than the minor de- 
tails. Write me often and long letters. 

Sincerely, DAD. 



LETTER NO. 9. 

MY Dear Son: — This will acknowledge your letter 
telling me that the labor trouble at your mill had 
vanished and I breathe a silent prayer that it may 
never return. I know what it means to be mixed up in 
labor truobles and I trust you will have no further trouble 
of this kind. 

You appear to be doing well on your section, and I 
suppose you have learned to handle the doffers by now. 
Yes, I know it is perplexing to handle doffers, but do you 
know, the training a doffer gets in the mill is worth a 
great deal to him and it is also a good training for one to 
have the management of a set of doffers. 

Nearly all of our good mill men have been through 
the exact experience that you are now having and I urge 
you to be patient, and rest assured that the experience 
will be worth a good deal to you in years to come. 

I am enclosing herewith a story of Andrew Carnegie 
as a doffer boy and I am sure you will find it interesting. 
It is a true story, the facts having been furnished by Mr. 
Carnegie. 

Many of the great men in all walks of life and in all 
times have come up from the ranks of the poor. This 
statement applies with full force to Andrew Carnegie the 
subject of this sketch. To one familiar with conditions 
prevailing among our Southern cotton mills, it is a long 
step from the doffer-boy of to-day, with his onerous duties, 
to the position of millionaire, burdened with the task of 
giving away vast sums of money, yet this is a true story of 
the road that has been traveled by Andrew Carnegie dur- 
ing the past 66 years. It seems a long time since the year 
in which Queen Victoria first ascended the throne of Eng- 
land, and in fact it is more than three quarters of a cen- 
tury since that event took place. In the same year, 1837, 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 55 

in the town of Dunfermline, Scotland, in the home of a 
family of poor people who depended on their small "home 
cotton factory" for a living, there Andrew Carnegie was 
born, on the 25th day of November. 

The story connected with the early life of Andrew 
Carnegie, is one of unusual interest to the entire world 
and of especial significance to the thousands of small boys 
and young men who are to-day plodding along lines simi- 
lar to those followed by Andrew Carnegie during the 
early part of his career, and it is hoped that a recital here, 
of some of the difficulties which were met and overcome, 
will be a source of inspiration to some of our Southern cot- 
ton mill boys. The boys of to-day have far better condi- 
tions under which to labor and have much greater leisure 
time to devote to self-improvement. The road from dof- 
fer-boy to millionaire must of necessity be a hard and 
rugged road to travel, and of course, "few there be that 
find it," but we are not surprised, nowadays, to hear of 
those who have come up from the ranks of poverty to the 
eminence of success. History shows that practically all 
of our great men have come from the ranks of the poor, 
and the subject of this sketch, whose authority on such 
matters would seem to be conclusive, has repeatedly said: 
"It is a great blessing to be born poor." In keeping with 
this paradox Mr. Carnegie gives us another one in these 
words, "He who dies rich dies disgraced." Such pithy 
paradoxes as these are not readily assimilated by the 
great majority of people, but there is much truth in them 
as we can see by looking far beneath the surface and into 
the very inner meaning of them. Andrew Carnegie's fa- 
ther was an expert weaver, and, as was the custom at the 
time referred to, he owned a small "home cotton factory" 
consisting of four damask looms, which of course were 
operated by hand power. The power of steam loom, as it 
was sometimes called, had not then come into general use, 
but was gradually being adopted in the leading manufac- 
turing centers, and was also making inroads on the earn- 
ings of those who depended on their hand looms for their 
subsistence. The elder Mr. Carnegie being as I have said, 
an expert weaver would receive many orders from the 



56 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

dealers in his immediate vicinity, for towels, table cloths, 
napkins and other such goods as could be woven on the 
damask looms. 

The dealers would in most cases furnish the yarn or 
thread to be used in the making of the goods they had or- 
dered, leaving to Mr. Carnegie and his apprentices the 
weaving of the goods according to specifications. It was 
amid such surroundings as these that Andrew Carnegie 
grew up. 

The invention and introduction of the power loom, as 
well as that of the cotton gin, the cylinder card and the 
spinning mule were rapidly changing the old system of 
home factories, to that of the public factory system, 
wherein all the processes of making yarn and cloth were 
carried on under one roof. This change to the public fac- 
tory system, with its large production at greatly reduced 
cost, made possible by the economies of concentrated cap- 
ital, soon put the home factories at a great disadvantage, 
as they could not compete with the new factories, equip- 
ped, as they were with modern machinery and greater fa- 
cilities for turning out the various classes of goods re- 
quired. As a result of the change the home factories was 
gradually forced out of business, and this disaster soon 
came to the Carnegie home. Orders began falling off, and 
though Mr. Carnegie struggled against the adverse con- 
dition he, too, was finally forced to close up his shop, as 
no order could be obtained, at a figure that would allow 
of any profit. Though Mr. Carnegie had been able for 
many years to support his family, through the operation of 
his "factory" he was now face to face with the problem of 
no work and no income. There was nothing to be gained 
by moving to another town; the same condition prevailed 
everywhere. Andy was at this time a lad of ten years, 
and he had helped his father around the home factory for 
several years doing such work, as could be done by a boy 
of his age. That Andy had been schooled in strictest 
economy is illustrated by an anecdote told of him during 
his school days. It was the custom at roll call each morn- 
ing for the pupil to arise when his name was called and 
repeat a verse from the Bible. Andy on one occasion 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 57 

stood up and said: "Take care of the pence and the 
pounds will take care of themselves." The shadow of 
gloom now cast over the future prospects of the little 
family, on account of being unable to get more orders, 
wherewith to operate their looms, resulted in the decis- 
ion to follow the example of some of their relatives who 
had a few years before gone across the big pond, and lo- 
cated at Pittsburg in America. The parents came to this 
conclusion, after a family council, the main consideration 
being "the future of our two boys, Tom and Andy." This 
decision was followed by quick action, the looms and the 
business were sold and preparations made for the trip to 
America. The breaking up of home and family ties, was 
not done without many a heartache and regret, but the de- 
cision having been reached they lost no time in making 
final arrangements for the long move. It was in 1848 
when the little party consisting of father, mother, Tom 
and Andy embarked upon the sailing vessel Wiscassett, 
and began their seven weeks' voyage across the ocean to 
the land of promise. The crossing of the Atlantic in a 
sailing vessel, was no pleasant undertaking but the stur- 
dy and determined character of the Carnegies was such 
that they were not to be easily deterred from their pur- 
pose. The party of four, reached Pittsburg safely and at 
once settled down to business. Andrew's father secured 
work in a cotton mill, and when Andrew was 12 years of 
age he began his business career as a doffer-boy at the 
mill where his father and brother Tom were at work. 
The hours of labor then were much longer than they are 
now and everyone was required to work from dark till 
dark, with 40 minutes for dinner. Andrew's salary at this 
time was 20 cents a day and each week he received his 
salary of $1.20 with a feeling of pride. Mr. Carnegie fre- 
quently refers to this fact to-day and says it >was one of 
the joys of his life when he reached the point where he 
could contribute something toward the support of the 
family. 

Andrew Carnegie, as a doffer-boy, doubtless displayed 
the keen foresight that has since distinguished him as a 
man of finance. The hard work and long hours of the cot- 



58 GREER'S SPINNIfvG RULES. 

ton mills of those days with the attendant small pay that 
the operatives received, no doubt made life a monotonous 
burden, but to Andrew Carnegie it was an inspiration, and 
to have come up through the ranks of the hard laborers of 
his adopted country is one of the proud boasts of this dour 
Scotsman to-day. "Who can know and appreciate the 
conditions of the laboring man better than one who has 
been rocked in the cradle of poverty, and compelled by ne- 
cessity to participate in the labors of those among whom 
he lives? 

The doffer boys of to-day are far removed from the 
hard task which Andrew Carnegie had to perform in order 
,o earn his $1.20 a week. Working conditions among th.. 
cotton mill people are far superior in every particular to 
what they were even ten years ago, and with the better 
conditions of labor, there has also come better wages, 
better houses, better schools, and a higher plane of living 
in general. 

While working as a doffer boy Andrew Carnegie was 
subject to the usual "ups and downs" that are peculiar to 
this position, and which are only appreciated by those 
who have come in direct contact with the endless jobs 
that are generally attached to the position of doffer. Dof- 
fing is understood by those familiar with cotton, mill ver- 
nacular as the taking off of the* full bobbins and replacing 
them with empty ones. This term is applied to the vari- 
ous machines in the mills, and even in the picker room, 
and the card room we have the doffing of the laps and 
the doffing of cans, in each instance, it refers to the tak- 
ing off of the finished product. The doffer boy, however, 
when referred to in general terms, is understood to be one 
whose duties are to remove the full bobbins of yarn from 
the spinning frame spindles and replace them with emp- 
ty bobbins. This work being rather simple and requiring 
little or no experience, has always been done by small 
boys, and when a family "moves to the cotton mill" and 
asks for work for the whole family, it is to doffing that 
the boys are usually put. Such was the case in Andrew 
Carnegie's boyhood days and the same conditions prevail, 
largely to-day. Child labor, of which we hear so much to- 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 



59 



day, is a relic of the former system of the "home factory," 
where every member of the family was required to do 
such work as best suited their age and experience, and 
while labor conditions in general have been greatly im- 
proved during the past few years, that work done by the 
younger members of the family shows a much greater im- 
provement than any other. The conditions of child labor 
in the cotton mills have been greatly exaggerated during 
the past few years. This has come about largely through 
those seeking notoriety, or who for political reasons have 
been perniciously active in behalf of the laboring classes. 
The Carnegie family on coming to this country found in 
the cotton mill a suitable place, wherein to make a living, 
as have thousands of other families, who by force of ne- 
cessity, are compelled to work for a living. As a doffer 
boy Andrew was required to clean the machinery, sweep 
the floor, bring water, and to do a hundred and one other 
jobs that were tacked on to the duties of doffing. What- 
ever was required of him he did it the best he could. He 
was thorough-going in his work and soon won the good will 
and esteem of his employers. The flame of his ambition 
burned brightly and though required to work hard his 
motto, Nil desperandum (never despair) stood him 
in good stead and he performed, with credit 
to himself, every task that was assigned him. 
After a year or so as doffer boy he accepted 
a much harder position in the boiler room, where he was 
required to- shovel coal into the furnace and to oil and 
look after the pumps and engine. This position, while be- 
ing unusually severe on a boy of his age offered him in- 
creased pay and an opportunity to contribute more to the 
support of the family, of which he was justly proud. This 
work, however, soon began to tell on his not already 
strong constitution and he was forced to give up the place. 
He then left the mill and secured a position as telegraph 
messenger boy at a salary of $3.00 per week. Andrew 
Carnegie was not an example of the old proverb that "A 
rolling stone gathers no moss," for he changed his posi- 
tions often. While he always attended diligently to 
whatever work he was set to do, he never lost an oppor- 



60 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

tunity to get a better position. He was trained in the hard 
school of experience. He, like Napoleon, learned early in 
life, "the value of time." He was always busy and was a 
hard worker. As a messenger boy he took advantage of 
the spare moments around the office to learn to be an op- 
erator, he made a name for himself, and soon became 
known as one of the best on the system. He systema- 
tized his work in order that he could do more of it and 
find leisure time for self-improvement. He did not object 
to long hours of hard work for he had an ambition to rise 
in the world and was not content to remain in mediocrity. 
He knew that the poet spoke truly in these words: 

"The heights by great men reached and kept, 
Were not attained by sudden flights, 
But they while their companion slept, 
Were toiling upward in the night." 

While an operator Andrew Carnegie was given an op- 
portunity to earn a few extra dollars by doing copy work 
for some of the newspapers, and he looked upon this 
money as real capital. His father having died when An- 
drew was about 15 years of age, the support of his wid- 
owed mother devolved largely upon him, and it was to her 
that he always went for advice, at this time as well as in 
the long years afterward. 

Having become an expert operator he attracted the 
attention of the railway officials who frequently had busi- 
ness* with the office where Carnegie was stationed. He 
was offered and promptly accepted a position as tele- 
graph operator in the service of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road. In this position, as in those he had formerly held, 
he "made good" and was rapidly advanced in salary and 
position until he was eventually made private secretary to 
Thomas A. Scott, then superintendent of the Pittsburg di- 
vision of the Pennsylvania lines. Andrew Carnegie has 
never ceased to be a hard worker, and it is only by the 
recognition of this essential to success that anyone ever 
gets anywhere. There is a class that labors under the de- 
lusion that success is only for the few, and comes only by 
luck or inspiration. 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 61 

Thomas A. Edison, however, has given us a good an- 
swer to the question: "Does success come by inspira- 
tion?" No, says Edison: "Success comes only by perspi- 
ration." 

When the civil war came on Mr. Scott was made assist- 
ant secretary of war and Mr. Carnegie continued with him 
as private secretary, going to Washington with his chief. 
Mr. Carnegie was, at this time, 24 years of age and dis- 
played considerable tact and judgment in the handling of 
the troops and the despatching of equipment and supplies 
for the army. He was present at several battles, but took 
no active part in the war except in his capacity as private 
secretary to Mr. Scott. In June, 1862, Mr. Carnegie re- 
turned with Mr. Scott to Pittsburg, and soon thereafter 
succeeded him as superintendent of the Pittsburg Divis- 
ion of the Pennsylvania road. Mr. Carnegie was greatly 
admired by Mr. Scott, whom he had served long and faith- 
fully. Carnegie's first investment came about on the ad- 
vice of Mr. Scott, who advised the former to buy ten 
shares of stock in the Adams Express Co.. This he was 
not able to do, however, until his mother — always 
ready to help her dear boy — mortgaged the home for the 
necessary $600. The investment proved good and the 
stock was sold, afterwards, at a handsome profit. After 
Mr. Carnegie became a superintendent, which was his last 
position as an employee, his successful ventures came fast 
and decisive. He became interested in a company to build 
sleeping cars, and from this enterprise made considerable 
money. 

He made several profitable deals in oil «wells about 
the time Rockefeller was monopolizing that great indus- 
try. Foreseeing the demand that was sure to come, at an 
early date, for steel bridges to replace the old wooden 
ones that were frequently being burned, thereby seriously 
delaying traffic, he resigned his position with the railroad 
and organized the Keystone Bridge Works. This concern 
became the basis of .his marvelous operations for the next 
twenty or thirty years. He continued to build and equip 
steel works, and to manage them in such a masterful way 
that he became known throughout the entire world as the 



62 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

Steel King. At the time of the organization of the 
United States Steel Corporation, Mr. Carnegie almost, if 
not entirely, dictated the price of steel to the whole world. 
He sold his steel works to the Giant Corporation for the 
staggering sum of $300,000,000, receiving $100,000,000 in 
cash and $200,000,000 in five per cent gold bonds. Since 
the passage of the Income Tax Law there has been a good 
deal of comment on the foresight displayed by Mr. Car- 
negie in making his deal with the Steel Trust. He had it 
stipulated in the contract that the bonds were to be ex- 
empt from all State and National tax. 

Mr. Carnegie's fortune is estimated to-day at $300,- 
000,000, notwithstanding the fact that he has given away 
many millions of dollars in establishing free libraries and 
other educational institutions. Under the Income Tax 
Law referred to he would have had to pay to the govern- 
ment a tax of six per cent on his income, which is esti- 
mated at $15,000,000 per year. This tax would have cost 
Mr. Carnegie $900,000 a year, but owing to the provision in 
his contract with the Steel Corporation, regarding State 
and National tax, it is said, he will be absolved from the 
payment of the income tax on these bonds. 

To have come up from a poor doffer boy in a cotton 
mill, working for 20c a day, to be a great money king,, 
with an income of more than $41,000 a day, and to be em- 
ployed only in the effort to give away his money faster 
than it accumulates, is indeed a story worthy of careful 
thought. Mr. Carnegie was always thrifty and to this we 
must attribute much of his success. 

We cannot, of course, all be millionaires, nor should 
we want to be. However, it should be the aim of every 
man to save at least a part of, his salary, and he who does 
this, will get ahead financially, while the great majority 
will continue to be the tails of other men's kites. Plan 
your course so that you will not always be dependent on 
your salary. Build up a reserve fund. From time to time 
make wise investments, and in a few years you may be- 
come independent, and in the meantime, you will be able 
to do more work and better work, because your mind will 
be relieved of that anxiety, as to what would happen 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 63 

should your regular income fail. There is food for thought 
in a saying of the late B. H. Harriman that "Only the poor 
are wasteful." Practically all riches are founded on 
someone having adopted the saving habit. We should 
learn early and practice assidiously, the habit of saving 
our money: 

Not for to hide it in a hedge, 
Nor for a train attendant, 
But for the glorious privilege 
Of being independent. 

Son, next week we will take up some of the calcula- 
tions, pertaining to spinning. This letter is long, but I 
trust you will find it both interesting and profitable. 
Sincerely, DAD. 



LETTER NO. 10. 

MY Dear Son: — This thanks you for your very inter- 
esting letter, which has just reached me. I am 
glad to hear that you have been promoted to sec- 
ond hand, and, of course, you have my very best wishes 
for a grand success. 

You have done well, and I am pleased at the rapid 
progress you are making. 

In letter No. 6, I gave you a few rules on finding the 
number of yarn, now, we had better take up some more 
calculations. I have already explained to you the system 
of cotton yarn numbering now we will see by what means 
we may change from one number to another. This is ac- 
complished by what we call "draft," and may be explained 
in several different ways. 

The "draft" of a spinning frame may be said to be the 
difference between the surface speeds of the front and 
back rolls; or, it may be explained as the difference in 
the weight, or length, of the product going into the frame, 
or machine, and that coming out. 

If the surface speed of the back roll was 40 inches per 
minute, and the surface speed of front roll 400 inches per 
minute, there would be a draft of ten, and each inch of rov- 
ing taken in by the back roll would be drawn out, into 
ten inches, by the front roll. 

To change this draft we increase or decrease the speed 
of the back roll, the front roll remaining at a constant, 
speed. The back roll is driven from the front roll by gears, 
and there is usually a gear upon the front roll, one upon 
the back roll, and two connecting gears called, crown gear 
and draft gear respectively. 

The draft gear is the one generally changed when it 
becomes necessary to make the yarn lighter or heavier, 
although this result could be obtained by changing any of 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 



65 



the gears, in the train, and it is the custom in a great 
many places to change the crown gear, instead of the 
draft gear. 

There is an advantage in changing the crown gear, in 
that it usually contains a great many more teeth, than 
does the draft gear, and thus finer changes can be made, 
for instance: in changing a gear that contains 100 teeth the 
result is a change if one one-hundredth, whereas when 
changing a gear of 30 teeth the result is one-thirtieth. 
But, say, look-a-here who in the devil can write about 
drafts and twists and other such dry subjects, with a 
circus street parade going along just outside my window. 
Not me, I am going to quit right here and get out on th« 
streets and follow the clowns and other animals back to 
the show grounds and right there I'll stay until the wee 
small hours of the morning, and I may drink some red 
lemonade if I can find any in "brown bottles." Good night! 

Here's some tables that you may find need for, so clip 
them and paste them in your memorandum. 



Measures of Length: 



Inches Feet 


Yards 


Rods Furlongs 


12 1 








36 3 


1 






198 16 1-2 


5 1-2 


1 




7920 660 


220 


40 


1 


63360 5280 


1760 


320 


8 




Measures 


of Area 




Square . Square 


Square 


Square 




Inches F§et 


Yards 


Rods 


Acres 


144 


1 






1296 


9 1 






39204 2721-4 30 1-4 1 




6272640 43560 4840 


160 


1 


4014489600 27878400 3097600 


102400 


640 



Miles 



Square 
Miles 



66 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 



Seconds 

60 

3600 

86400 

604800 

31557600 



Gills 
4 



Measures of Time. 
Minutes Hours Days 



Weeks Years 



1 

60 

1440 

10080 

525960 



1 

24 

168 

8766 



1 

7 
365 1-4 



52 5-28 



Pints 

1 
2 



Measures of Quantity. 

Quarts Gallons Barrels Hogsheads 



32 
1008 
2016 



Mills 

10 

100 

1000 

10,000 



252 
504 



1 

4 
126 

252 



1 
31 1-2 
63 



Table of U. S. Money. 



Cents 
1 
10 
100 
1000 



Dimes 

1 
10 
100 



Dollars 



1 
10 



Eagles 



Mensuration. 

A LINE is that-: which has length only. 

A POINT is that which has position only. 

An ANGLE is formed by two lines diverging from a 
common point. 

A RIGHT ANGLE consists of a horizontal and a per- 
pendicular line. 

A TRIANGLE is a figure bounded by three straight 
lines. 

A QUADRILATERAL is a plane figure having four 
straight sides. 

A PARALLELOGRAM is a quadrilateral the opposite 
sides of which are equal. 

A CUBE is a body having six equal square sides or 
faces. 

A SURFACE or AREA has length and breadth. 

A CYLINDER is a round body of uniform diameter 
whose ends are parallel to each other. 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 67 



A PRIZM is a body whose ends or bases are equal 
plane figures and whose sides (3 or more) are parallelo- 
grams. 

A CONE is a body having a circular base and tapers 
uniformly to a point called the vertex. 

A FRUSTRUM of a cone or pyramid is the part that 
remains after cutting off the top parallel with 'the base. 

A PYRAMID resembles a cone being many sided in- 
stead of round. 

A SOLID or BODY has length, breadth and thickness. 

A SQUARE is a quadrilateral whose sides are all 
equal and whose angles are all right angles.. 

I'm off for the circus. More later. 

Sincerely DAD. 



LETTER NO. 11. 

MY Dear Son: — Now that the circus is over we must 
get down to business and make up for lost time. 
The tables which I gave you last week have very 
little to do with a spinning room, and yet you will find 
that you will frequently have need of them, so I thought I 
would just throw them in. 

Now that you are a second hand you should begin to 
look into the many calculations that are required to be 
made in order to get the correct results for any number 
of yarn, and too you must make a more careful study of 
the labor problem. If you have followed my letters, care- 
fully, and I believe you have, you should be pretty well 
posted on how to get along with your help, with the least 
amount of trouble, and as I have already pointed out, this 
is by no means, a small item. When I began to learn 
about spinning one of the first rules I got fixed in my 
mind was a simple one on draft, it ran in this way; if you 
are making a number 14s yarn with a draft of seven what 
is your hank roving? I was told that by dividing the num- 
ber of yarn by the draft it would give the hank roving. 
Following out this rule we find that 14 divided by seven 
equals two, the number of the roving. Now you will find 
that the figuring of draft is simply a question of multipli- 
cation, subtraction and division, as you will see from the 
following: a draft of seven, with a two hank roving, pro- 
duces a number 14s yarn. Dividing the number of yarn 
by the draft, gives the hank roving; dividing the number 
of yarn by the hank roving gives the draft, and multiply- 
ing the draft by the hank roving, or the hank roving by 
the draft gives the number of yarn. This is the 
foundation of all draft calculations, and while it is practi- 
cally correct it should be remembered that there is a va- 
rying amount of contraction which makes the yarn slight- 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 69 

ly heavier than what the figures will show. This contrac- 
tion will vary from three per cent v to probably ten per 
cent, but it is. fairly safe to allow five per cent. To find 
what per cent the yarn actually contracts, you should di- 
vide the number that the yarn actually sizes, by the num- 
ber obtained by figures, thus: if you figure fpr number 14s 
and the yarn sizes 13.30 what is the contraction? By di- 
viding 13.30 by 14 we get .95 subtract this from 1.00 and 
we have 5, for the per cent of contraction. You will bear 
in mind that in the numbering of the roving the same 
rules apply as in the numbering of yarn, and when we 
speak of a two hank roving we mean that two hanks of 
that roving will weigh one pound just the same as if it 
was yarn, in fact the only difference in yarn and roving is 
the difference in the twist, ordinary warp yarn having 
twist equal to 4.75 times the square root of the number, 
while roving, ordinarily, has only 1.20 times the square 
root of the number. Now to figure out the draft of a spin- 
ning frame by the gears we will suppose the following for 
an example: Front roll gear 30 teeth, draft change gear, 
24 teeth, diameter of front roll 1" or 8-8". Crown gear 84 
teeth, back roll gear 84 teeth, diameter of back roll 7-8". 
Then to get the draft we multiply the front roll gear, the 
draft gear and the diameter of back roll together for a di- 
visor; the crown gear, back roll gear and the diar/eter of 
the front roll together for a dividend, as follows: 30X24X 
7=5,040. divisor. 84X84X8=56,448, dividend. 56,448-1-5,040 
=11.20, Draft. To get the constant number we work in 
the same way, except that we leave out the draft gear. To 
find the constant number on a frame geared as above we 
will work as follows: 30X7=210, divisor. 84X84X8= 
56,448 dividend. Then 56,448-4-210 =268.80 constant num- 
ber. 

To get the draft from the constant number it is only 
necessary to divide the constant number by the draft gear 
thus: 268.80-^-24=11.20 draft as before, or to find what 
draft gear is required to give a certain draft, it is only 
necessary to divide the constant number by the draft thus: 
268.80-^11.20=24 the draft gear required. Now my boy if 
you will get this matter firmly set in your mind you should 



70 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

be able to figure out any case of draft that may be re- 
quired of you, also you should bear in mind that when 
you are using double roving you should first reduce it to 
single, that is; two strands of a four hank roving would be 
considered the same as one strand of two hank roving, you 
will of course, understand why this is so. Now I will 
have to leave you until next week, and I suggest that you 
study this lesson very carefully. Next week I hope to be 
able to get deeper into these calculations. With all good 
wishes I am. Sincerely yours, DAD. 

LETTER NO. 12. 

MY Dear Son: — In regard to the draft of a spinning 
frame there are a great many ways to get it. As I 
pointed out last week the usual method is 
through the gears, but here is another way: . 

Rule: — Divide the surface speed of the front roll by 
the surface speed of the back roll, the result will be the 
draft. Example: Suppose the surface speed of the front 
roll to be 1200 inches per minute, and the surface speed of 
back roll to be 200 inches pe,r minute then 1200-^200=6 
the draft of the frame. Now you will want to know of 
course how to get the surface speed of the rolls and I will 
give you the rule. 

Rule: — Multiply the diameter of the roll by 3.1416 and 
this product by the revolution per minute, . of the roll. 
Example: What is the surface speed of a one-inch roll, 
which makes 127.33 revolutions per minute. Applying the 
rule given: 1x3.1416X127.33=400 inches per minute. 
To Find the Number of Bands Per Pound. 

Rule: — Divide 7,000 by the weight of one band in 
grains. 

Example: — One band weighs 58.33 grains, then 7,000-=- 
58.33=120 bands per pound. 

Rule: — Divide the number of inches of yarn delivered 
by the front roll per minute, by the circumference of the 
bobbin, and subtract this result from the speed of the 
spindle, the result will be the speed of the traveler. 

Example: — Inches of yarn delivered per minute by 
the front roll, is 400. Speed of spindle 8,000. Diameter 



GREER'S SPINNING} RULES. 71 

of bobbin 1 inch. Then 400-f-3.1416=127.32 8000—127.32= 
7872.68 the speed of the traveler. It will be seen from 
this that the speed of the traveler must necessarily vary 
with the circumference of the bobbin, and is always just 
enough behind the spindle to wind on the amount of yarn 
that is being delivered by the front roll. If the spindle 
and traveler made the same number of revolutions it is 
evident that there would be no winding-on. 
To Find the Twist in Yarn from the Speed of Spindle and 
Rule: — Divide the speed of spindle, by the surface speed 
of front roll, the result is the twist per inch. 

Example: Speed of spindle 8,000, surface speed of 
front roll 400 inches per minute. Then 8000-=-400=20 the 
turns per inch. This result is practically correct but the 
twist will be slightly in excess of that shown, on account 
of the contraction. 

The basis upon which all twist, for yarn and roving, is 
figured, is the square root of the number, not that this has 
anything in particular to do with it, but because it fur- 
nishes a regular scale. The following table gives the 
standards that have been generally adopted for different 
kinds of cotton yarns: 

Extra warp twist 5.00 times the square root of the num- 
ber. 

Ordinary warp twist 4.75 times the square root Of the 
number. 

Low warp twist 4.50 times the square root of the num- 
ber. 

Extra mule warp twist 4.00 times the square root, of 
the number. 

Mule warp twist 3.75 times the square root of the 
number. 

Extra Filling twist 3.50 times the square root of the 
number. . 

Filling twist 3.25 times the square root of the number. 

Hosiery twist 3.00 times the square root of the num- 
ber. 

It will be found that these figures are not accepted by 
all mill men as being correct, and that there is a wide dif- 
ference of opinion as to the exact amount of twist that 



72 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

should be put in the different kinds of yarn. However 
this will be found to furnish a good guide, in connection 
with which one must use their own good judgment and 
experience. 

To Find the Twist Multiple Being Used. 

When it is not known just what multiple was used in 
adjusting the twist, we can determine this by 1 the follow- 
ing: Rule: — Divide the turns per inch being put in by the 
square root of the number of the yarn being spun. Exam- 
ple: Spinning number 16s with 19 turns per inch, what 
is the twist multiple being used? The square root of 16= 
4 then 19-=-4=4.75, the answer. 

It is well to keep in mind that the contraction varies 
with the twist, there being more contraction in warp yarn 
than in filling yarn. - x As a general proposition, the more 
twist you put in the more contraction you will have, and 
the more contraction you have, the more twist there will 
be. 

To Find the Twist of a Spinning Frame by Gears. 

Rule: — Multiply the cylinder gear, twist change gear, 
and circumference of front roll, together for a divisor. 
Multiply the jack gear, front roll gear, and ratio of cylin- 
der to whirl, together for a dividend, the result will be the 
twist per inch. 

Example: Suppose we have a frame geared as fol- 
lows: Cylinder gear 50 teeth, Twist gear 16 teeth, circum- 
ference of one inch front roll 3,1416". Jack gear 60 teeth, 
front roll gear 112 teeth, ratio of 7" cylinder to 3-4" whirl 
8.24. Then work as follows: 50X16X3.1416=2513.28 
divisor. 60 X 112 X §24=55,372.80 dividend. Then 55,372.80 
-4-2513.28=22.03 turns per inch of twist. 

To Find the Twist Constant. 

Rule: — Work the same as for twist except that you 

« 
leave out the twist change gear. Following the example 

given above we have: 50X3.1416=157.08 for a divisor. 

60X112X8.24=55,372.80 for a dividend, then, 55,372.80-h 

157.08=352.51 constant number. 

The same rule will apply here as was explained in re- 
gard to constant number for draft, the constant number 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. . 73 



divided by the twist gear will give the twist per inch, and 
the constant number divided by the twist per inch will 
give the twist gear required, as follows: 352.51-^-16 =22.03 
twist per inch. 352.51^-22.03r=16 twist change gear. 

To Find Speed of Cylinder. 

Rule:— Multiply speed of counter shaft by diameter of 
pulley on same and divide this product by the diameter 
of pulley on cylinder. Example: Speed of counter shaft 
330 revolutions per minute, diameter of pulley on same 30 
inches, diameter of pulley on cylinder 10 inches, then 330-X 
30=9900-M0=990 revolutions per minute. 

To Find Speed of Spindle from Speed of Cylinder. 

Rule:— Multiply speed of cylinder by diameter of 
same and divide this product by diameter of whirl on 
spindle. Example: Speed of cylinder 990 revolutions per 
minute, diameter of same 7 inches, diameter of whirl on 
spindle 3-4 inches, then 990 X7--3-4"=9240 revolutions per 
minute. It is customary to allow a certain percentage for 
the slipping of the band, some do this by adding 1-16" or 
1-8" to the diameter of the whirl. 

General Speed Calculations. 

Practically all speed calculations may be made by ob- 
serving the following four terms: First, speed of driver; 
Second, diameter of driver; Third, diameter of driven; 
Fourth speed of driven. The following rules will apply: 

Multiply first by second and divide by third gives 

fourth. 

Multiply first by second and divide by fourth gives 

third. 

Multiply fourth by third and divide by second gives 

first. 

Multiply fourth by third and divide by first gives sec- 
ond. 

Now, Son, I have given you these rules just as they 
have occurred to me and in a very simple way, in order 
that you would have no trouble in readily understanding 
them, of course I could have stated some of these matters 
in a more technical way, and have avoided a great deal of 
repetition but my object has been to make them so plain 



74 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

that anybody with a thimble full of brains could readily 
understand just how to do any of the things I have re- 
ferred to. Your advancement has been rapid, you have 
done fine, or as "Teddy" would say you are doing "bully." 
I trust you are doing as well morally as you are indus- 
trially, and that you will not get to be one of these fellows 
we hear so much about that turn out to be such a charac- 
ter, as is referred to in "he's a devil in his own home 
town." You are learning a good trade and I believe that 
we are going to see a great revival in the textile industry 
in the next few years, and good men are going to be in de- 
mand, as never before. Stick to your job and when I can 
serve you, don't hesitate to call on me. 

Very sincerely yours, DAD. 



LETTER NO. 13. 

MY Dear Son: — Now that you have been promoted to 
boss spinner, I feel that you should be able to get 
along nicely, in view of the fact that you have had 
considerable drilling from your very first entrance into the 
mill. I have endeavored to give you such instruction as, 
in my opinion you would most need and while these let- 
ters have no doubt been of service to you I am aware of 
the fact that you possessed the needed qualities that go to 
make a mill man, otherwise, you could not have gone up 
as rapidly as you have. 

No man can advance in any line of work unless he 
has ability to command the respect and confidence of his 
employer, as well as the good will of those who work with 
and under him. The man who cannot command the good 
will of both employer and employee, will find very little 
■encouragement in any line of industry, especially is this 
true in a position where one is required to direct the work 
of others and carry the responsibility for large numbers of 
less-informed workers. 

You will find that your duties as a boss spinner will 
Iteep you fully engaged; you will have little time to devote 
to outside interests and I would advise you to keep free 
from such "outside interests." Few men ever become an 
•expert at more than one thing, and you will do well to con- 
centrate all your efforts towards becoming the best boss 
spinner in the country. Remember the saying attributed 
to Emerson that: "If a man can write a better book, 
preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse trap than 
his neighbor, even though he live in the forest, the world 
will make a beaten track to his door." My son if you can 
make of yourself the "best boss spinner in the country" 
you will never need to hunt a job, your services will al- 
ways be in demand. Further than this a man who can run 



76 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

a spinning room better than anyone else, can set his own 
price. The great trouble with most men who enter the 
cotton mill business, is that they do not try to master the 
details of the business. As soon as one learns enough to 
merely hold a job of small proportions, they stop studying 
and soon get into a rut where they remain, grinding 
away, as lifeless as a mere machine. Strive to realize the 
ideal in the saying quoted above, and in the realization, at 
each step gained, you file the chain which binds Success. 

It is not so much what a man knows, as what he does; 

one may know all about running a spinning room; may 

know how to make any calculation that is ever required, 

and yet be a complete failure as a boss spinner. If you 
are not willing to work hard; to assume a great deal of 
responsibility, and to virtually do the thinking for many 
of . those placed under your care you had just as well quit 
right now, and go out on a farm where you can get a job 
plowing a steer. You are doomed to failure, if you enter 
the cotton mill thinking that it does not require the use of 
ones brains. There will come a time when you will feel 
like you have the hardest job on earth, that everybody 
else is having a good time while you are up to your neck 
in trouble, but don't get discouraged, keep a stiff upper lip 
and fight it out. Don't be a quitter. Nothing worth while 
was ever attained by those who balk at every little hill of 
difficulty. Obstacles are put in our way to be overcome 
and not to stop our progress and each obstacle overcome 
gives us greater confidence in our ability and helps us on 
to greater accomplishments. Remember that opportunity 
comes to every one, whether they are ready for it or not, 
some say that opportunity makes the man, others that 
man makes the opportunity, it matters little to us how we 
look at this proposition, as long as we are not prepared 
to take advantage of the opportunity when it does come. 
It is said of Napoleon that "he made himself ready for a 
great opportunity and a great opportunity came to him." 

Perhaps you will at times feel like throwing down 
the job and walking out, you will get blue, become dissat- 
isfied, with everybody and everything, but wait-a-minute, 



GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 77 

right-about face and look at the proposition squarely. 
Don't lose your head, remember to: 

Let nothing disturb thee, 
Nothing affright thee; 
All things are passing, 
God never changeth, 
Patient endurance, 
Attaineth to all things. 

In this series of letters I have not attempted to give a 
great many calculations, these may all be had from the 
machinery catalogs, and really as I see it they are not by 
any means the most important part of what . a spinner 
needs to know. At some future time I expect to add some- 
thing to what I have had to say to you along this line. 

I am now to close this series of letters and in doing 
so I sincerely hope that they have not been altogether un- 
interesting, and that you who have read them will find 
helpful suggestions herein. 

Many men have failed in the cotton mill business as a 
result of conditions over which they had no control, fail- 
ure, however, is often due to one's own lack of practical 
knowledge. There are many ways in which we may learn. 
It has been said: "We may learn from experience, from 
books and from men," and doubtless, it requires all three 
of these to produce a well rounded evenly balanced, man 
of affairs. Experience is a great teacher, perhaps the 
greatest teacher, and yet a careful study of the experi- 
ence of others should enable us to avoid the many pitfalls 
into which they have fallen only to rise and know that a 
"burned child fears the fire." Of the making of books 
there is no end and the fact that books are made in great 
and increasing numbers indicate that there is a demand 
for them, to supply which many men have given much 
time and careful thought to the preparation. A great deal 
may be learned from men, both good and bad, and one 
cannot be too careful in the selection of associates, from 
which they will acquire unconsciously perhaps habits and 
knowledge. 

I am conscious of the fact that these letters are not by 



78 GREER'S SPINNING RULES. 

any means as full and complete as they might have been 
and yet there is much practical information on the subject 
of spinning. No effort has been made to produce what is 
termed as "fine writing" or to turn out strictly technical 
matter. It is the sincere wish of the writer that all who 
may read the foregoing letters will find them not altogeth- 
er uninteresting, and, if they shall be the means of helping 
some one to a better knowledge of the spinning depart- 
ment, and help some deserving man to a better position, 
the writer will feel that he has been graciously repaid for 
all the time he has spent in the preparation of this work. 
With all good wishes for your success I am 
Sincerely yours, 

"DAD." 



Oil Stains on Goods are 
not a Necessary Evil 

For years mill men tolerated the toll of "seconds" im- 
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They had no choice, since mat hinery would not run 
without oil, and oil would drip, no matter how care- 
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Write for testimonial letters and free samples 
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TEXTILE BOOKS. All books that are in print, 
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JAMES A. GREER 

Charlotte, N. C. 

AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER 

Publishing 

Greer's Practical Carder • 

ALSO 

Greer's Spinning Rules 

Price $1.00 Each 

Every man interested in Cotton Manu- 
facture should have a copy of these books 

Address the Author. 



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SAVE COTTON 
SAVE MONEY 

The latest invention of importance 
to cotton manufacturers is 

The Greer Cotton Saver 



No cotton card is complete without 
this patented device. 

Increases Production 
Makes Stronger Yarn 
Makes Cleaner Yarn 
Saves Cotton 
Reduces waste 
Saves So Much 
Costs So Little 

For full particulars address : 

GREER MACHINE COMPANY 

P. O. Box 910 
CHARLOTTE, N. C. 







THE 

Greer Cotton Saver 



(SPECIFICATIONS 



THIS invention has reference to improvements in 
carding machines, and its object is to effect a sav- 
ing in cotton, as well as improve the quality 
thereof. 

It is the customary practice in carding machines to 
run the carding cylinder and the flats in the same direc- 
tion where they engage, wherefore the flats become pro- 
gressively more contaminated with refuse taken from the 
cotton as the cotton approaches the doffer. 

In accordance with the present invention the flats are 
caused to travel with the run adjacent to the cylinder 
moving in a direction the reverse of that of the card cyl- 
inder, so that the cotton is acted upon during its progress 
through the carding machine by successively cleaner por- 
tions of the flats and consequently when finally delivered 
to the doffer the cotton is markedly better and freer from 
refuse than has heretofore been the case. 

Moreover, the invention includes an additional roller 
covered with carding cloth and located between the licker- 
in and the corresponding end of the web of flats, the ar- 
rangement of this roller being such as to be active to the 
flats and to the carding cylinder. The added roller is for 
the purpose of removing the cotton strips from the flats 
as they leave the carding cylinder close to the licker-in 
and after these cotton strips are cleaned the cotton is re- 
placed upon the card cylinder. The result is that there is 
a saving of from seven to ten per cent, more or less, of 
the cotton and practice has shown that the resultant card- 
ing is superior to that obtained in a carding machine 
without the presence of the additional roller. 

The refuse removed from the cotton in a day's run is 
almost free from cotton instead of this refuse containing 

II 







WITNESSES 



? &i0hu. 






INVENTORS 



sUa 




TTORNeY/** 



Plate 



III 



'. ' ,. , ■-...:. :.■) 



a material portion of the cotton treated by the carding 
machine. 

The invention will be best understood from a consid- 
eration of the following detailed description, taken in con- 
nection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of 
this specification, with the further understanding that 
while the drawings show a practical form of the invention, 
the latter is not confined to any strict conformity with the 
showing of the drawings, but may be changed and modi- 
fied so long as such changes and modifications mark ho 
material departure from the salient features of the inven- 
tion. 

In the drawings: — 

Figure 1 is. a front to rear vertical section of a portion 
of a carding machine embodying the present invention. 

Figure 2 is a perspective View of a portion of a card- 
ing machine embodying the present invention. 

•Figure 3 is an elevation of a portion of the opposite 
side of the machine from that shown in Figure 2, and 
showing driving mechanism for the flats. 

Figure 4 is a longitudinal diametric section of the ad- 
ditional roller. 

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view of a carding machine 
showing a somewhat modified construction. 

Figure 6 is an elevation of a detail of Figure 5. 

While the present invention is not limited to any spe- 
cial type* of carding machine, it can be and has been used 
in connection with a carding machine such as illustrated 
in patent No. 623,094, granted to 0. Mills and L. W. Pen- 
ney, April 11, 1899, and a reference to said patent will be 
sufficient to disclose parts of the cardang machine or en- 
gine which have not been illustrated in the annexed 
drawings because deemed unnecessary for the under- 
standing of the present invention. 

The carding machine or engine includes a carding 
cylinder 1 covered with the usual wire or carding clothing 
2, and this cylinder is mounted upon a shaft 3 supported 
in suitable bearings in a frame 4 and driven in any appro- 
priate manner. 

Crowning the cylinder 1 is an endless chain of wire 
clothed flats 5 carried by rollers 6, and this web of flats 

IV 



■ 







immmmmim mir 



WITNESSES 






I.W. O'ret/i A'n 
***& tXA.Grgpr, 




Plate 2 







extends from a point near the licker-in 7 to a point near 
the doft'er 8 all similar to the arrangement shown in the 
aforesaid letters patent. 

There is, however, a material difference between the 
arrangement shown in the said letters patent and a card-^ 
ing machine or engine constructed in accordance with the 
present invention, and one of these points of difference re- 
lates to the course of travel of the flats. 

I It is customary with a machine such as shown in the 
said letters patent to drive the flats by power imparted to 
the end roller of the series of rollers supporting the flats 
and indicated in Figure 1 at 6a, the direction of travel of 
the run of the belt or web of flats next to the carding cyl- 
inder being in the same direction as the carding cylinder, 
and in the structure as viewed in Figure 1 where the direc- 
tion of travel of the cylinder 1 is clockwise the direction 
of travel of the run of the flats next to the cylinder would 
also be clockwise, but in accordance with the present in- 
vention motion is imparted to the flats by power applied 
to the other end roller 6b of the series, so that the active 
run of the flats is counterclockwise as viewed in Figure 
I, or the reverse of the direction of travel of the periphe- 
ral portion of the cylinder 1. It is customary to run the 
flats by a belt driven by a pulley 9 mounted on the shaft 
3, and in a machine constructed in accordance with the 
present invention this pulley drives a belt 10 leading to 
another pulley 11 on a stub shaft 3a driving a worm gear 
4a on another shaft 5a carrying a worm 7a in engagement 
with a worm gear 8a fast to the shaft or journal of the 
roller 6b and so arranged that the surface of the carding 
cylinder and the adjacent run of the flats move in opposite 
directions and, furthermore, the parts are so related that 
the movements are at such relative speeds as practice de- 
mands. 

The roller 6b has journal bearings in brackets 12 car- 
ried by a suitable portion of the frame, and these brack- 
ets have other brackets 13 secured thereto and so located 
that they carry journal bearings 14 for the journal ends 15 
of a roller 16, which latter is covered with card clothing 17 
and is situated between that portion of the flats passing 
about the roller 6b and the licker-in 7, the card clothing of 

VI 






the roller 16 being so related to the card clothing of the 
cylinder 1 and flats 5 as to nearly touch that of the flats- on 
one side and the cylinder on the other. 

The roller 16 is provided with a pulley 18 which may 
be mounted on one of the journals 15, and this pulley is 
driven by a belt 19 coming from an appropriate pulley 20 
on the shaft 3, the parts being proportioned to impart to 
the roller 16 an appropriate speed of rotation which may 
be relatively high with respect to the speed of rotation of 
the cylinder 1 and the linear speed of the web of flats 5. 
The roller 16 is so connected up to the shaft 3 that its di- 
rection of movement where adjacent to the cylinder 1 and 
where adjacent to the flats 5 is" the same as the correspond- 
ing surfaces of the cylinder and flats, although the roller 
itself rotates upon its axis in a counterclockwise direction 
in the view of the structure as seen in .Figure 1. 

The lap indicated at 21 is fed from the lap stand 22 to 
the licker-in 7 in the usual manner and to the cylinder 1 
where it is acted upon by the flats 5 first by the loaded end 
of the web of flats and later by the cleaner portion of the 
web of -flats until as the sliver approaches the doffer 8 it is 
subjected to the action of the cleanest portion of the flats, 
wherefore when the sliver approaches the doffer it is in far 
better condition than is the case where the flats and the 
cylinder 1 have their adjacent portion moving in the same 
direction. 

The loaded top flats leave the cylinder 1 close to the 
licker-in and are there acted upon by the roller 16 which 
removes the strippings from the flats and replaces them 
upon the cylinder 1, which at this point has a greater peri- 
pheral speed than the roller 16, thus keeping the latter 
clean. Between the point where the roller 16 takes off the 
strippings from the flats and the point where it replaces 
these stripping upon me cylinder 1 a suitable number of 
mote knives 23 are located to knock out the motes, dirt 
and other trash, which trash falls into a mote box 24 en- 
closing the roller 16. The mote box has a door 25 for the 
convenient removal of collected trash at suitable inter- 
vals. By this means almost the entire amount of cotton 
fiber heretofore allowed to waste is replaced upon the 

VII 



• 



carding cylinder to be ultimately removed therefrom by 
the doffer 8, and practice has demonstrated that the re : 
sultant sliver is particularly clean, while the output of the 
machine is increased from seven to ten per cent, more or 
less, due to the saving of the strippings which are taken 
directly from the flats and at once replaced upon the card- 
ing cylinder, while in the interim between the removal of 
the strippings from the flats and the replacing of them 
upon the carding cylinder all motes, dirt and trash found 
in the strippings are removed. 

The operation is wholly automatic and requires but 
the presence of one small additional roller which places no 
appreciable load upon the machine and requires no atten- 
tion. The cost therefor of recovering the strippings from 
the flats is wholly negligible, and this recovery represents 
a material saving amounting to ten to thirteen pounds of 
cotton, more or less, per card, per day of ten hours, while 
the resultant carding is noticeably improved. 

In the arrangement shown in Figure 1 the cotton 
strippings are taken from the flats and replaced directly 
upon the carding cylinder. Instead of such an arrange- 
ment the arrangement shown in Figure 5 may be employ- 
ed where there is indicated a roller 16a and another roller 
16b between the delivery end of the web of flats and the 
licker-in 7. These two rollers 16a and 16b are connected 
as by gearing 18a to rotate in opposite directions, the roller 
16a rotating with respect to the flats in the same direc- 
tion as the roller 16, while the roller 16b rotates in the op- 
posite direction. Neither roller 16a nor 16b delivers 
upon the cylinder 1 in the structure shown in Figure 4, but 
the roller 16a strips the flats 5 and delivers upon the roller 
16b which in turn delivers upon the licker-in 7 and the 
strippings are by the licker-in delivered to the cylinder 1, 
the motes and dirt and trash being removed from the 
strippings before they, reach the cylinder 1. 

In either structure shown in the drawings the flats 
travel in the opposite direction to the travel of the cylin- 
der 1 so as to deliver close to the receiving portion of the 
cylinder, while the roller 16, or the pair of rollers 16a, 16b 
strip the flats of adhering cotlon and restore this cotton 

VIII 



- 



to the cylinder 1, the trash accompanying the strippings 
being removed before such strippings again reach the 
cylinder 1. 

In the actual operation of the machine the waste is 
made up almost exclusively of motes and dirt and trash 
with hardly any noticeable quantity of cotton fiber, while 
the waste of a carding machine lacking the features of the 
present invention represents a Very material amount of 
the cotton fiber which has heretofore been saved only at a 
material cost. 

Claims Allowed. 

1. In a carding machine or engine, a rotatable carding 
cylinder, a web of flats in superposed relation to the cyl- 
inder, means for driving the active run of the flats in a di- 
rection opposite to the movement of the corresponding 
portion of the cylinder, and a stripping roller for removing 
strippings from the delivery end of the web of flats and re- 
lated to the cylinder to return the strippings thereto at 
the receiving end of the cylinder, said stripping roller be- 
ing provided with means for removing the trash from the 
strippings on the stripping roller before the strippings are 
returned to the cylinder. 

2. In a carding machine or engine, a rotatable carding 
cylinder, a web or flats in superposed relation to the cylin- 
der, means for driving the active run of the flats in a di- 
rection opposite to the movement of the corresponding 
portion of the cylinder, and a stripping roller for removing 
strippings from the delivery end of the web of flats and 
related to the cylinder to return the strippings thereto at 
the receiving end of the cylinder, said stripping roller be- 
ing provided with means for removing the trash from the 
strippings on the stripping roller before the strippings are 
returned to the cylinder, the trash removing means com- • 
prising mote knives and a mote box enclosing the mote 
knives and provided with a receptacle for trash and also 
provided with a door for access to the interior of the box. 

3. In a carding machine or engine, the combination 
with a rotatable carding cylinder, a licker-in,a web of flats in 
superposed relation to the cylinder and means for driving 
the active run of the flats in a direction opposite to the 

IX 



'- 






"'•''•■'': /': '-liJi&i 



,■ 



'iS^friU:;: ' . :■- ' 



movement of the corresponding portion of the cylinder, of 
stripping means at and for removing, strippings from the 
delivery end of the web of flats- and constructed and ar- 
ranged to cause the strippings to be replaced upon the cyl- 
inder to be again fed to the flats along with fresh or 
untreated material, said stripping means having means as- 
sociated therewith for removing trash from the strippings 
before the latter again reach the cylinder. 



X 



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XI 



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XII 



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ity for executive^, superintend- 
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The work of a large staff of regu- 
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Each issue combines practical data 
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XIII 



';;-';;.?:;<•;;:■';: ■.■■... ■ ■ : 




What the Greer Cotton 
Saver Does 

In the first. pages of this colored insert there are draw- 
ings and specifications of a new invention, which, for lack 
of a better name, has been called The Greer Cotton Saver. 

The name given this new device is really a misnomer, 
as the chief object of the device is to improve the quality 
and increase the production of the card. That it does ef- 
fect a material saving in cotton is incidental to its main pur, 
pose. 

It has /ong been known that if the flats on a revolving 
flat card were run with their operating portion moving 
along the cylinder from the doffer towards the licker-in, that 
the product of the card would be greatly improved. 

With the flats commencing their work at the back of 
the card and moving towards the front, to be cleaned, it is 
evident that all the trash and foreign matter which col- 
lects on the flats is brought forward, along with the cot- 
ton, and that a considerable portion of this trash must 
necessarily be delivered to the doffer and become a part 
of the finished sliver. 

With the flats commencing their work at the front of 
the card and moving towards the back, clean flats are 
presented to the carding cylinder, at a point where the final 
carding is being done. This is as it should be, and any 
person, at all familiar with the principle and construction 
of a revolving flat card will be able to see, at once, that 
the product must be greatly improved by running the flats 
from front to back, instead of from back to front, as is 
now the custom. 

When the flats are run from front, to back a decided 
improvement is also made in the quality of the work, due 
to the fact that the flats are le»vip<? the card at the back 
— where the cotton enters — and a great ouantity of heavy 
trash is removed immediately *r\d never finds its way to 
the front of the card, whereas, in the present system all the 
trash entering the card must remain in eontaet with the 
cylinder and flats until it reaches +he front of the card, 
where it either passes into the finished sliver or is re- 
moved with the strips. 

Realizing that a great improvement Would result from 
such a change, many attempts have been made, heretofore, 
to run flats from front to back, none of these efforts have, 

XIV 



"'';.'-■ ■ . ■■ ■'•■: . 



however, been sufficiently successful to warrant their adop- 
tion. The chief obstacle to be overcome in running the flats 
from front to back was the stripping of them. This could 
not be successfully accomplished by a comb, owing to the 
wire pointing in the direction of movement. 

In the present invention the flats are stripped automati- 
cally, and the strips, after being cleaned, are returned to 
the card, to be again treated in the regular manner. 

It is well known that card strips contain a considera- 
ble percentage of good fibres, to recover which it is 
the usual custom to return the card strips to. the mixing 
room to be reworked. Their reworking is detrimental to the 
fibre, and is also an added expense. 

The production of a card being limited to the amount 
of cotton that can be carded and cleaned it is evident 
that increasing the rHrdiitg and cleaning capacity of the 
card, automatically increases its producing capacity, and 
this is what the present invention accomplishes. 

The running of the flats from front to back; the add- 
ing of two small stripping rolls between the flats and 
licker-in; the removing of the strips frcm the flats; the 
cleaning of the strips and the replacing of them up^n the 
cylinder, is all accomplished by this device, automatically, 
with a minimum of mechanism and with no appreciable in- 
crease of load on the machine. 

The general adoption of this improvement will doubt- 
less take place, as rapidly as possible, wherever its salient 
features become known. Such general adoption will mark 
a decided improvement in carding and will mean a better 
product; an increased production, less waste and reduced 
cost. 

This invention is fully protected by Letters Patent. 

Any one desiring further information are directed 
to address: 

GREER MACHINE COMPANY, 

Box 910, Charlotte, N. C. 



XV 



. . . V r 





HM^M 






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XVI 



Ashworth Brothers, **■ 



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CARD CLOTHING 



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Reg. U. S. Pat. Office 

Graphite Impregnated Wood 
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HECKMAN 

BINDERY INC. 

jjj^MAY 90 

W=Br N. MANCHESTER, 
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